alternate history

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English

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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alternate history (usually uncountable, plural alternate histories)

  1. Counterfactual history, a form of scientific speculation used by historians.
  2. (fiction) A genre of fiction based around or involving ahistorical events (often occurring after a fixed point of divergence from real history).
    • 2004 September 5, Laura Miller, “Imagine”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
      Alternate history is [] a mournful exercise; in it, the world we know has been erased, and usually not for the better. Sometimes the main character realizes this, but most often the reader alone is left to fathom the loss.

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