Meanings
- derogatoryhumorousuncountableA fascination with historic explorations, particularly by reenacting them.
1998, John Tierney, “Explornography: The Vicarious thrill of Exploring When There's Nothing Left to Explore”, The New York Times Magazine, July 26, section 6, page 18+ Age of Exploration has been succeeded by the Age of Explornography
3 more examples
The success of Outside magazine and its ability to generate blockbuster books such as The Perfect Storm, Into Thin Air, and the IMAX film Everest reflect an “explornography” trend of vicariously breaking free of civilization by entering into the natural world at its most capricious and violent.
1999 March, Michael J. Wolf, The Entertainment Economy: How Mega-media Forces are Transforming Our Lives, Times Books, page 1692002 March, Elizabeth Haiken, Artificial Parts, Practical Lives (multiple authors), page 171, NYU Press A core sample taken from the refuse pile reveals...Gore-Tex, that miracle fiber of “explornography”, then, a layer of Teflon and several layers of silicone solids
Re-enactors are the ultimate “explornographers”—voyueristic seekers of long-lost explorer’s experiences.
2006 January, Peter Charles Hoffer, Sensory Worlds in Early America, Johns Hopkins University Press, page 12
Origin
Blend of explore + pornography, coined by columnist John Tierney.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with explornography
Cite this entry
explornography. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/explornography
“explornography.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/explornography. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “explornography,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/explornography.
Source: explornography on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.