Doylist
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
Doylist
Where it comes from
From Doyle + -ist, with reference to Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Adjective formed by analogy to Doyle as the real author of the text, as opposed to Dr. John Watson as the fictional author within the text. Started in Sherlock Holmes fandom before spreading to other fandoms. Possibly originating in the "Baker Street Irregulars" fan club and entering the science fiction fandom usage (fanspeak) via the Lois McMaster Bujold mailing list.
adjective more Doylist · most Doylist · Doyleist
-
From a real-world perspective; of or relating to an explanation outside the text; external to the narrative.
I would accept that many of them behave like humans born on earth would, but that must be an artefact of poor translation or our poor understanding of their motives and objectives [Watsonian] or lack of vision on the writers part [Doylist - to borrow some terms from the Bujold mailing list - think '
Similar: extradiegetic, out-of-universe
Opposite: Watsonian, intradiegetic, in-universe
noun Doylists · Doyleist
- An enthusiast of the works of Arthur Conan Doyle. T. Raymond One can imagine the devout Doylist wringing his hands over every fresh appearance of Sir Arthur in the character of an exponent of spiritualism.
Thesaurus
adjective
Opposite: Watsonian, intradiegetic, in-universe
Talk about this word "Doylist." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/doylist. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026. Doylist. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/doylist "Doylist." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/doylist.Cite this
@misc{doylist_2026,
title = {Doylist},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/doylist},
urldate = {2026-11-07}
}
