Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Fast-paced science fiction involving futuristic computer-based societies.
Wiktionary
- n. science fiction, uncountable A subgenre of science fiction which focuses on computer or information technology and virtual reality.
- n. countable A cyberpunk character, a hacker punk, a high-tech low life.
- n. countable A writer of cyberpunk fiction.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a programmer who breaks into computer systems in order to steal or change or destroy information as a form of cyber-terrorism
- n. a writer of science fiction set in a lawless subculture of an oppressive society dominated by computer technology
- n. a genre of fast-paced science fiction involving oppressive futuristic computerized societies
Etymologies
- cyber- + punk, coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of a 1983 short story. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Well, Miracle Man predated the term cyberpunk and the Wachowskis demonstrated their interest in Moore with their interest in adapting V for Vendetta beginning in the early 1990s.”
Top 100 Comic Book Runs #40-36 | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources
“The cyberpunk is usually an outsider * not* of his/her own choosing, but because the structure of society is inherently unfair and favors the rich (who usually have to intentionally buy into or perpetrate the evils of society to get that way, ala the Bush Administration or, well, the 80s, when the genre was at its height.)”
“Anyone who has read my articles knows that, with the exception of specific authors (Pat Murphy, Melissa Scott, Richard Morgan), cyberpunk is not the lime in my gin-and-tonic.”
“I was working my way through Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash when I started to think about the role of techno-jargon in cyberpunk books, especially William Gibson's and Stephenson's work.”
“When I read about this the phrase cyberpunk thrilled me so much that I avoided reading any so that I could just mentally riff on the concept -- here's some of what I came up with.”
I Really Shouldn't Do This: The Guardian's Science Fiction And Fantasy Novel List
“Interesting thing from a posting in cyberpunk - First piercing-type thing I'm vaguely willing to do - given my usual opinion of "If I get anything like that done it'll be augumentation not ornamentation", this is a darn cool thing.”
“To me, cyberpunk is a genre that explores the interaction of technology and man (in the generic sense of the word) in a not so distant future.”
“According to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, cyberpunk is a “term used to describe a school of sf writing that developed and became popular during the 1980s.””
“But, as I’ve explained to numerous people, cyberpunk is NOT a pessimistic genre.”
“I was thinking about writing something in cyberpunk.”
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » This is a cool concept…
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cyberpunk’.
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Headlines & Newsmakers
frugality, environment, extinction, bible, killer, jazz, cloning, dead, god, moon, global warming, bailout and 340 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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crime slang
slang terms for crimes, also words associated with shady behaviour
phony paper passin, stroppy, situation, clip, flip, artform, volatile, teleport, squee, futz, fizzog, hotch up and 23 more...
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ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
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lavendargrrl's Words
surfeit, radiant, sussuration, sustenance, authenticity, aching, solitude, solicitous, limerance, compersion, philanthropy, mystery and 108 more...
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zzyyxx's Words
plethora, drout, functional, rye, wring, doubt, cognative, weird, gnaw, surcease, rend, languish and 438 more...
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Logophile, The Back Page (AKA: just c...
node, nexus, locus, toroidal, ivory, kestrel, lyre, muscat, caldera, tapestry, codex, paragon and 103 more...
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Some Words I Love to Use
arcology, strumpet, crux, confected, pedant, bluestocking, cogitation, incensed, lovecraftian, cygnet, dactyl, adytum and 539 more...
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boychoir's Words
tantamount, nom de guerre, absurd, dolt, transmute, dichotomy, dandy, schadenfreude, ennui, binary, analog, obfuscate and 93 more...
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_mark's keywords ™
words that describe me or that i am focusing on.
( personal list )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/personas--2<...satirical, dark, enigmatic, androgyny, appreciative, opinionated, inquisitive, sensitive, nonchalant, acerbic, scientific, circumspective and 220 more...
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aozuas's Words
sense data, hyperreality, brouhaha, ibid, apophenia, fnord, lackadaisical, schadenfreude, bildungsroman, ready-made, readymade, tergiversar and 654 more...
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_mark's list
Words I like!
( personal list, favorite words, randomness )psy, nanobot, success, smack, vibration, microcosmic, springgraph, marksmanship, estranged, homoerotic, flex, fiasco and 1696 more...
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nfk9595's Words
magnetohydrodynamics, bovine, epistle, gargantuan, kerfuffle, verbiage, morose, coup de main, elan, achtung, uber, verboten and 497 more...
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artlung's Words
pica, hesh, cyberpunk, lysenkoism, rhonchi, rhonchus, gaia, transubstantiation, ecumenical, phoenix, redemption, fealty and 2 more...
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a fan's dictionary
fanon, canon, trekkie, trekker, browncoat, shipping, het, slash, femslash, smut, gen, mary sue and 45 more...
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Science Fiction Double Feature
cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, sci-fi, steampunk, techsploitation, dystopia, transhumanism, posthuman, future, skiffy, comlink, transmogrifier and 38 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cyberpunk.

nuxiy A bad guy Mar 30, 2009
ecbrenner "Term used to describe a school of SF writing that developed and became popular during the 1980s. The word was almost certainly coined by Bruce Bethke in his story 'Cyberpunk' (1983, AMZ)...
The 'cyber' part of the word relates to cybernetics: to a future where industrial and political blocs may be global (or centred in space habitats) rather than national, and controlled through information netowrks." --Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 288. Mar 30, 2009