suspension of disbelief

English

Noun

suspension of disbelief (usually uncountable, plural suspensions of disbelief)

  1. People's acceptance, for the sake of appreciation of art (including literature and the like), of what they know to be a nonfactual premise of the work of art.
    In science fiction films, suspension of disbelief is essential.
    • 1955, Donald Keene, “The Japanese Theatre”, in Japanese Literature, page 63:
      On the other hand, Chikamatsu could induce a suspension of disbelief with the same means, thus producing an effect of reality within basic unreality. (The suspension of disbelief is, of course, nothing new to Western audiences.)

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