What does teleportation mean?
Teleportation is the name given to moving a person, object, or consciousness from one place to another instantaneously, apparently without crossing the intervening distance. In ordinary contemporary use, it usually belongs to science fiction, fantasy, games, or speculation about future technology, though the word can also describe theoretical physical or information-transfer processes. A story might portray teleportation through a machine, a magical spell, or an innate ability, with the mechanism determining its cultural associations. The word can suggest convenience and extraordinary freedom of movement, but it may also introduce ideas of surveillance, loss of privacy, technological control, or the uncertainty of arriving without a visible journey. Teleportation is therefore useful vocabulary not only for describing imagined travel but also for discussing how science fiction examines space, identity, security, and the consequences of bypassable distance.
nounThe process or hypothetical ability of moving a person, object, or consciousness from one place to another instantaneously, without travelling through the intervening space. In modern usage, the word is especially associated with science fiction, fantasy, and speculative physics.
- The instantaneous movement of a person, object, or consciousness from one location to another without passing through the space between them, especially in fiction or speculation about physics.
"The novel imagines a world in which teleportation has made long-distance travel almost instantaneous."
"After the portal activates, teleportation takes the crew to a station on the far side of the galaxy."
"Researchers described the proposed technology as teleportation, while stressing that no usable system has yet been demonstrated."
The plural is uncommon and is normally used only when referring to separate acts or instances of teleportation.
"The two apparent teleportations were recorded by the observatory's instruments."
Teleportation skips the journey altogether: the destination becomes real before the traveller has taken a single step.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does teleportation come from?
Teleportation was formed from the combining form tele-, meaning “far” or “at a distance,” and port, meaning “to carry,” with the noun-forming suffix -ation. The element tele- comes from Greek, while port is related to Latin portare, “to carry,” also underlying words such as transport and portable. The compound developed as a term for supposed or hypothetical long-distance transfer before becoming especially prominent in science fiction and fantasy.
Related word forms
How teleportation is actually used
The term is chiefly used in science fiction, fantasy, speculative physics, and discussions of hypothetical technologies. It is often informal or imaginative when applied to impossible travel, although scientific literature also uses it for proposed quantum-information processes. Usage is not regionally restricted.
Easily confused with teleportation
Teleportation is the imagined movement of a person or object from one place to another, whereas telepathy is the supposed communication or transfer of thoughts without spoken language.