Revised as of 5 Dec 2021
None of it is real, at least in the sense that each word in this confusion — factitious vs fictional vs fictitious vs fictive — refers to something made up.
Factitious describes something that is contrived even though it is based on fact.
Fictional describes a made-up story intended to entertain.
Fictitious is the broadest term of the four and refers to anything fake.
Fictive is “inventive with a certain creativity to make a point”, to stand out (Perlman).
So, yep, all four words are fictitious with three of them fine-tuning the fakery.
You may also want to explore “Facetious vs Factious vs Fractious“.
Word Confusions…
…started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.
If you found this post on “Factitious vs Fictional vs Fictitious vs Fictive” interesting, consider tweeting it to your friends. Subscribe to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| Factitious | Fictional | Fictitious | Fictive |
|---|---|---|---|
Leaf by Quinn Dombrowski is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Flickr. — A close-up of a factitious leaf. |
.jpg)
Fictional Flag of Poland-Lithuania is Ludwig the Great‘s own work is under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. |
Fire Drill in the Desert is in the public domain courtesy of the Military Sealift Command and the US Navy. — Drills of any kind are a fictitious event. |
Vintage Robin Hood Poster by Dawn Hudson is in the public domain, courtesy of the Library of Congress and via PublicDomainPictures.net, <https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=74792&picture=vintage-robin-hood-poster>. — Robin Hood is a fictive character. |
| Part of Grammar: | |||
| Adjective | Adjective | Adjective | Adjective |
| Artificially created, contrived, or developed
Not spontaneous or natural Made
|
Relating to fiction
|
Not real or true, being imaginary or having been fabricated
|
Creating or created by imagination
Of, relating to, or having the characteristics of fiction |
| Examples: | |||
| The country had a largely factitious national identity.
Associative obligations thus do not arise from merely factitious groupings. Thus, of Laetitia Landon he writes: “Her poetry recreates a factitious world and she is shrewd enough to see that her own perceptions are part of that world, as is the language in which she can speak of it.” It seems probable that several of the mounds are factitious. Presumably the statue is of factitious marble, because for that price you’re not going to get the real stuff. I have a black thumb when it comes to indoor plants, so all my plants are factitious. People with factitious disorder feign or actually induce illness in themselves, typically to garner the nurturance of others. |
They were fictional texts.
He was but a fictional character, sigh. Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective. He used a fictional situation to explain the subject. What if Dolores Umbridge was real…and not fictional!? Marvin hesitated to call her a liar and chose to say her stories were fictional. By the way, the invitation to this party says that I should come dressed as a fictional character. To help him play Trevor with conviction, Ferns invented a fictional biography for the troubled man. He is quite happy to be compared to Mary Shelley’s fictional character, Frankenstein. |
She pleaded guilty to stealing thousands in taxpayer dollars by having a fictitious employee on her payroll.
The people in this novel are fictitious; the background of public events is not. This must be a real, not a fictitious, intention, so it hardly arises in the case of a fraudster. Ms Moore, the department, and Downing Street issued blanket denials, claiming the e-mail was fabricated and fictitious. Better to discover how science is in fact developed and learned than to fabricate a fictitious structure to a similar effect. Claims of working for the fictitious water board allowed bogus callers to steal from the home of an elderly Chelmsford resident. |
She became immersed in the novel’s fictive universe.
Given Bernhard’s debt to Dostoyevsky and other twentieth-century monologists, the question is: what is unique about Bernhard’s fictive universe? Science fiction, by it’s very name, implies a fictive universe within an understandable scientific framework. One is a fictive invention, and the other is a fiction derived from necessity. The students, who have founded twelve fictive junior communication agencies, will compete to create the best campaign. Your reports must discuss the obviously fictive genres: poetry, drama, and the novel. |
| Derivatives: | |||
| Adjective: nonfactitious Adverb: factitiously, nonfactitiously Noun: factitiousness |
Adverb: fictionally Noun: fictionality, fictionalization Verb: fictionalize |
Adverb: fictitiously Noun: fictitiousness |
Adverb: fictively Noun: fictiveness |
| History of the Word: | |||
| Mid-17th century, in the general sense made by human skill or effort, is from the Latin facticius meaning made by art, from facere meaning do, make. | This was first recorded in 1840–45; fiction + -al. | Early 17th century, from the Latin ficticius, from fingere meaning contrive, form + -ous OR from the late Latin -itius, alteration of the Latin -icius. | Early 17th century (but rare before the 19th century) is from the French fictif, -ive or the medieval Latin fictivus, from the Latin fingere meaning contrive, form. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves?
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Factitious vs Fictional vs Fictitious vs Fictive
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: factitious, fictional
Lexico.com: factitious, fictitious, fictive
Merriam-Webster: factitious, fictive
Perlman, Merrill. “Made Up: Fictional, fictitious, fictive, and factitious.” Language Corner. Columbia Journalism Review. 13 January 2014. Web. 22 April 2020. <https://archives.cjr.org/language_corner/language_corner_011314.php>.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
President Trump Addresses Nation on South Asia Strategy, 21 August 2017, Fort Myer, Virginia, by Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith is in the public domain, courtesy of the Department of Defense.
