Word.ws English Dictionary

sercon

sercon adjective: having a serious intellectual approach to science fiction; literary; scholarly; studious.

Adjective

sercon (comparative more sercon, superlative most sercon)

  1. (dated, slang) Having a serious intellectual approach to science fiction; literary; scholarly; studious.
    • Puns and similar witticisms are irrepressibly scattered all thru fan writings, even the most sercon.1959, Richard "Dick" Harris Eney, Fancyclopedia II, Humor
    • Stephen Pickering's observations regarding the dilemma of the sercon fan confronted with an undercurrent of unorganized anti-intellectualism in APA fan-circles is a particularly brilliant, valid, and wholly justifiable resentment of the human condition which threatens to obfuscate and perhaps...1966–67 Winter, Fred Phillips, “Your 5¢ Worth”, in No-Eyed Monster, number 10, page 40
  2. (dated, derogatory, slang) Taking science fiction too seriously; boring; pompous; self-important.
    • Carl even established a false identity for himself (!!) as "Norman Sanfield Harris" a sercon-fuggheaded type.1959, Dick Emey, Fancyclopedia II, Carl Joshua Brandon
    • This seems to have been a sercon, dull group for the first few years.1969, Harry Warner, Jr., All Our Yesterdays, page 247

Noun

sercon (plural sercons)

  1. (dated, slang) A sercon fan; a fan interested in intellectual, rather than fannish, matters.
    • The sercons and Socially Conscious types smothered them in significant issues and realistic views. Without their fannish counterparts to balance them, these types swiftly went to extremes in Serious Discussion, until general fandom no longer resembled fandom of the fifties. That was years ago...1961 November-December, John Koning, “The Withdrawl”, in Science-Fiction Five-Yearly, number 3, page 25
    • But let's suppose your fan activities are confined to writing scholarly treatises on the Sources Used by H.P. Lovecraft in creating his Cthulhu Mythos, or deadly-serious lit-ry criticism of the latest Ace paperbacks [...]. In this case, you may very well be dismissed as an eggheady old Sercon.1966 October, Lin Carter, “Handy Phrase-Book in Fannish”, in If, volume 16, number 10 (#107 overall), page 66
  2. (dated, slang) A sercon activity; a serious and scholarly activity.
    • It's currently possible for true devotees to find a science fiction convention to goe^([sic]) to fifty-two weekends a year; often there will be up to a half-dozen choices, ranging from large, general conventions, to smaller scholarly conferences or "sercons," to specialised get-togethers for fans...1995, Steven A. Stilwell, What Do I Read Next?, page 370
    • He's somewhat gafiated from 'Fusion, because he wants to start a sercon in Detroit (and because of his new S.O.) but he still goes to parties & cons.1995 May 19, Chad Childers, “Re: Fandom just the same as always”, in rec.arts.sf.fandom (Usenet), message-ID <3pinf6$nh1@tbd120.tbd.ford.com>

Examples of sercon in a sentence

  • I realize that this is not a very faanish stunt, but rather more sercon.1975, Elliot Weinstein, The Fillostrated Fan Dictionary, page 140:
  • This flyer arrived in early December, all in Spanish and seems very sercon, even pompous, but the reptiloid alien on the front is suitably silly.1995 July, It Goes On The Shelf, number 14:
  • The sercons and Socially Conscious types smothered them in significant issues and realistic views.1961 November-December, John Koning, “The Withdrawl”, in Science-Fiction Five-Yearly, number 3, page 25:
  • Sercons tend not to have masquerades or pay much attention to media fandom.2002, Justine Larbalestier, The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction:

Forms of sercon

Adjective
comparativemore sercon
superlativemost sercon
Noun
pluralsercons

Origin of sercon

Clipping of serious and constructive.

Questions about sercon

What does sercon mean?
Sercon means having a serious intellectual approach to science fiction; literary; scholarly; studious.
How do you use sercon in a sentence?
I realize that this is not a very faanish stunt, but rather more sercon.
What part of speech is sercon?
Sercon can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near sercon in the dictionary

  1. SERCA
  2. SERCAs
  3. Serchhip
  4. Sercial
  5. Sercials
  6. sercon
  7. sercons
  8. Sercquiais
  9. SERD
  10. Serda
  11. serdab

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sercon (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “sercon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sercon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.