contraterrene adj.

made of, or making use of, antimatter; cf. seetee n., terrene adj. 2

SF Encyclopedia


  • 1941 R. S. Richardson Inside Out Matter in Astounding Science Fiction Dec. 112/1 page image R. S. Richardson bibliography

    Contraterrene means just that—a type of matter exactly the opposite of ordinary or terrene matter. Instead of atoms composed of a positive nucleus surrounded by electrons, it consists of a negative nucleus surrounded by positrons.

  • 1942 ‘J. W. Wells’ Letter in Astounding Science Fiction Mar. 112/1

    But there are notable exceptions: e.g. stories prophesying a surprise attack on the United States by the yellow Aryans of Nippon, and J. D. Clark’s forecast of contraterrene matter in a short story called ‘Minus Planet’ published a few years ago.

  • 1942 J. W. Campbell Supernova Centaurus in Astounding Science Fiction Feb. 6/1 John W. Campbell, Jr.

    One of the most common of the more spectacular things, of course—but not to be rated with a direct collision of stars—itself probably divided into two orders of spectacle; first order being a collision between a star made up of terrene matter and a contraterrene-matter star, and a second-order spectacle involving simply two stars of the same matter type.

  • 1942 ‘W. Stewart’ in Astounding Science Fiction July 81/2

    The whole meteor belt was rich in contraterrene drift; matter inside out, with electrons and positrons in reverse positions.

  • 1943 Astounding Science-Fiction Oct. 9/2

    The stripped seetee nuclei carried now terrific and unbalanced negative charges and repelled electrons, but tended to attract terrene atom nuclei. In their turn the stripped terrene nuclei attracted contraterrene.

  • 1946 ‘J. J. Coupling’ in Astounding Science Fiction May 105

    We've known about atoms with protons and electrons for a long time; there have been suggestions of atoms with inverted structure—contraterrene atoms. But now it appears there are imitation atoms as well! But the phonies are soon unmasked—the masquerade lasts a few billionths of a second only!

  • 1946 ‘J. J. Coupling’ in Astounding Science Fiction May 108/2

    This will be perfectly comprehensible to those who have read the C T—contraterrene matter—stories in Astounding.

  • 1946 F. Brown Placet Is Crazy Place in Astounding Science Fiction May 119/2 Fredric Brown

    It boils down to this; Argyle I is terrene matter and Argyle II is contraterrene, or negative matter.

  • 1951 P. S. Miller Reference Library in Astounding Stories Nov. 117/1 P. Schuyler Miller

    In the July 1942 issue of Astounding SCIENCE FICTION Jack Williamson, using the pen name ‘Will Stewart’, introduced the concept of ‘seetee’—contraterrene matter—to science fiction in the novelette ‘Collision Orbit.’ Seetee, as is now pretty generally known, is matter electrically opposite to normal or terrene matter, with a nucleus of neutrons and negative protons surrounded by shells of positrons. In contact with normal matter, the opposites are attracted to each other, react, and neutralize each other with total conversion of their mass to energy.

  • 1966 J. W. Campbell Islands of Space i. 12 John W. Campbell, Jr.

    As a result, about half of the lead fed into the chamber became contraterrene lead! The atoms just turned themselves inside out, so to speak, giving us an atom with positrons circling a negatively charged nucleus.

  • 2015 N. L. Asher Dark Intelligence 14 page image Neal Asher bibliography

    This is filled with both inert missiles and CTDs—contra-terrene devices—because nothing says ‘gigadeath’ quite so effectively as those flasks of anti-matter.


Research requirements

antedating 1941

Earliest cite

R. S. Richardson in 'Astounding'

Research History
Roger Robinson has submitted a July 1942 Jack Williamson cite from Astounding.
Brian Ameringen has submitted a cite from a 1965 reprint of John Campbell's novel "Islands of Space"; Alistair Durie checked the story's first magazine publication in 1930, and found the word was not used there.
Mike Christie submitted a March 1942 cite from a letter to ASF by J. Wellington Wells.
Mike Christie submitted a February 1942 cite from an editorial by John Campbell in Astounding.
Mike Christie submitted a 1941 cite from an article by R.S. Richardson in Astounding.
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2015 cite from Neal L. Asher.

Earliest cite in the OED: 1946.

Last modified 2021-04-14 20:33:03
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.