n. 1. Science fiction set in an alternate version of the historic past, especially 19th-century England, and involving advanced technologies usually based on steam power. 2. An aesthetic style inspired by steampunk fiction. [Coined by Kevin Wayne Jeter (born 1950), American science fiction writer, on the model of CYBERPUNK.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.







