[fic.tion] n [ME ficcioun, fr. MF fiction, fr. L fiction-, fictio act of fashioning, fiction, fr. fingere to shape, fashion, feign--more at dough] (14c) 1 a: something invented by the imagination or feigned; specif: an invented story b: fictitious literature (as novels or short stories) c: a work of fiction; esp: novel
2. a: an assumption of a possibility as a fact irrespective of the question of its truth "a legal ~" b: a useful illusion or pretense
3: the action of feigning or of creating with the imagination -- fic.tion.al adj -- fic.tion.al.i.ty n -- fic.tion.al.ly adv