Word.ws English Dictionary

tardis

UK/ˈtɑːdɪs//ˈtɑɹdɪs/

tardis is the alternative form of Tardis.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: TARDIS

TARDIS (plural TARDISes)

  1. The time machine and spacecraft used by the Doctor in the British sci-fi television series Doctor Who, which is larger on the inside than its exterior (that of a British police box) suggests, or any of the conceptually similar time machines used by other members of the Doctor's race, the Time Lords.
    • 'While I was in the Rani's TARDIS, I made an adjustment or two.' He chuckled, remembering the occasion.1986, Pip & Jane Baker, chapter 19, in The Mark of the Rani, page 129
    • The Master's essence escapes his funeral urn and lands the TARDIS in San Francisco on December 30, 1999.2000, Fraser A. Sherman, Cyborgs, Santa Claus, and Satan, page 57

Noun (1) capitalized: TARDIS

TARDIS (plural TARDISes)

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of Tardis (something which resembles the bigger-on-the-inside time machine from the series Doctor Who).
    • This unassuming Georgian terrace house, located within five minutes walk of the busy commercial and tourist heart of Bath in Somerset, is like a veritable TARDIS of astronomical history and discovery, with more to see on the inside than its [exterior suggests].2008, in Astronomy Now, volume 22, issues 7–12, page 36

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Tardis

Tardis (plural Tardises)

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of TARDIS (time machine from the series Doctor Who which is larger on the inside than the outside).
    • […] in a cubicle on the top floor which, because of its 21st century appearance, is known to everybody as the 'Tardis'.1977 September 15, The Engineer, 245, 61
    • "Yeah, just blew in on the Tardis," Bowie said, unwinding a length of scarf from his throat.1998, Rafi Zabor, The Bear Comes Home, page 180

Noun (2) capitalized: Tardis

Tardis (plural Tardises)

  1. Something which resembles such a machine, either in that it travels through time or in that its interior is or appears to be larger (or more full of information or things) than its exterior suggested.
    • What the designers of the Campanian programmes aim for is something like a 'Tardis effect', the dissolving of actual boundaries into a limitless space[…]1990, Norman Bryson, Looking at the Overlooked: Four Essays on Still Life Painting
    • There was that little person, in the image of the future she had conjured up; there was something that it was like to be that little person; and it would be the same as what it was like to be this little person. A self is a Tardis, a time-machine: […]2008, Charles Fernyhough, The Baby in the Mirror: A Child's World from Birth to Three, page 129

Forms of tardis

Noun
pluraltardises
pluralTARDISes
pluralTardises
Proper noun
pluralTARDISes
pluralTardises
alternative formTARDIS
alternative formtardis

Origin of tardis

Coined in 1963 for the British science-fiction programme Doctor Who; said to stand for "Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space".

From TARDIS, the designation of the bigger-on-the-inside time machine used in the British science-fiction TV series Doctor Who, said in the 1963 story "An Unearthly Child" to be an abbreviation for "Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space"..

Words formed from tardis

Questions about tardis

What does tardis mean?
Tardis means the time machine and spacecraft used by the Doctor in the British sci-fi television series Doctor Who, which is larger on the inside than its exterior (that of a British police box) suggests, or any of the conceptually similar time machines used by other members of the Doctor's race, the Time Lords.
What is tardis the alternative form of?
Tardis is the alternative form of Tardis.
What part of speech is tardis?
Tardis can be a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce tardis?
Tardis is pronounced /ˈtɑːdɪs/ (UK).

Words near tardis in the dictionary

  1. tardigradologists
  2. tardigradous
  3. tardily
  4. tardiness
  5. tardinesses
  6. tardis
  7. TARDIS blue
  8. TARDIS-like
  9. tardises
  10. tardish
  11. Tardislike

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tardis (page history and authors); TARDIS (page history and authors); Tardis (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: en-us-TARDIS.ogg.

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