steampunk
Syllables: steam·punk/ˈstiːm.pʌŋk/
steampunk noun: a subgenre of science fiction that depicts advanced technology combined with Victorian style and aesthetics, such as steam-powered machines and vehicles, visible gears and screws and people dressed in 19th-century attires.
Noun
steampunk (countable and uncountable, plural steampunks)
- A subgenre of science fiction that depicts advanced technology combined with Victorian style and aesthetics, such as steam-powered machines and vehicles, visible gears and screws and people dressed in 19th-century attires.
- There's railroad trains, a lot of steam-driven stuff, but that's about it. More ‘steam punk’, I suppose.1987 May, James Blaylock, Locus, volume 20, number 5 (#316 overall), page 57
- It is also the vision of steampunk, a subculture that is the aesthetic expression of a time-traveling fantasy world, one that embraces music, film, design and now fashion, all inspired by the extravagantly inventive age of dirigibles and steam locomotives, brass diving bells and jar-shaped...2008 May 8, Ruth La Ferla, “Steampunk moves between 2 worlds”, in The New York Times
- A writer of steampunk fiction.
- Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, [James] Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like steam-punks, perhaps...1987 April, Kevin Wayne Jeter, “[Untitled letter]”, in Locus, volume 20, number 4 (#315 overall), archived from the original on 30 Aug 2014, page 57
- A person cosplaying as a steampunk character.
- It wound up being an overwhelmingly positive experience that made me appreciate the steampunks around me even more.2009 September, Klaude Davenport, “An interview with Emmett and Klaude Davenport of the Clockwork Cabaret”, in Exhibition Hall, number 1, page 6
- It is extremely rare that you speak to someone who says "I want to be an ...." This would suggest that for the vast majority of steampunks their choice of outfit (at least intitially) is less a conscious attempt at portrayal and more of a spontaneous and potentially subconscious growth of an idea.2010 September 24, John Naylor, “Re: [Steam-Scholars] Hello again and a query”, in steam-scholars mailing list, message-ID <45b85.6b512dc6.39cddc00@aol.com>
Verb
steampunk (third-person singular simple present steampunks, present participle steampunking, simple past and past participle steampunked)
- To depict in a steampunk manner.
- [Director Paul W.S.] Anderson's answer to the question of what to update in this film seems to be: steampunk everything. Hence the elaborate airship contraptions and weapons, all made in wood and iron and powered by choo-choo engines. What seems to be missing is the why. When far-fetched...2011 October 26, John Lui, “Musketeers victim of identity crisis [review of The Three Musketeers (2011)]”, in The Straits Times (Life! section), Singapore
- There is also a strong draw on literature and film for ideas. Some steampunks will take a favorite character, such as Boba Fett, Alice, Dorothy, Professor Snape, or Sherlock Holmes, and “steampunk” him or her out by adding elements of leather (or faux leather), gears, clock parts, electricity...2012, Sybil Fogg, “Mechomancy: Steampunk Sensibilities in Pagan Traditions”, in Llewellyn's 2013 Magical Almanac: Practical Magic for Everyday Living, Woodbury, Minn.: Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN...
steampunk meaning in Marathi and Thai
steampunk in Marathi
- subgenre of speculative science fiction
- स्टीमपंक sṭīmpaṅka
steampunk in Thai
- subgenre of speculative science fiction
- สตีมพังค์ sà-dtīim-páng
Examples of steampunk in a sentence
- Lovers of steampunk will find it especially pleasing.2021 November 3, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Boxes with functions across the centuries”, in RAIL, number 943, page 57:
- [Director Paul W.S.] Anderson's answer to the question of what to update in this film seems to be: steampunk everything.2011 October 26, John Lui, “Musketeers victim of identity crisis [review of The Three Musketeers (2011)]”, in The Straits Times (Life!...
Forms of steampunk
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | steampunks |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | steampunks |
| present participle | steampunking |
| past participle | steampunked |
| past | steampunked |
Origin of steampunk
From steam + -punk, by analogy with cyberpunk, coined by science-fiction writer Kevin Wayne Jeter (born 1950) in a 1987 letter to the magazine Locus in response to a review of his book Infernal Devices published the same year (see the quotation below).
Words formed from steampunk
Questions about steampunk
- What does steampunk mean?
- Steampunk means a subgenre of science fiction that depicts advanced technology combined with Victorian style and aesthetics, such as steam-powered machines and vehicles, visible gears and screws and people dressed in 19th-century attires.
- What is steampunk in Marathi?
- Steampunk in Marathi is स्टीमपंक (sṭīmpaṅka). See Steampunk meaning in Marathi.
- How do you use steampunk in a sentence?
- Lovers of steampunk will find it especially pleasing.
- What part of speech is steampunk?
- Steampunk can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce steampunk?
- Steampunk is pronounced /ˈstiːm.pʌŋk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of steampunk?
- The plural of steampunk is steampunks.
Words near steampunk in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: steampunk (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-steampunk.wav.
Cite this entry: “steampunk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/steampunk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.