Wiktionary
n. (alternative form of alternate universe English)
Wikipedia
An alternative universe (also known as an alternate universe, alternative reality or alternate reality), commonly abbreviated as AU, is the occurrence of canonical facts about the setting or characterization of a particular fictional universe being explored in a non-canonical way. These universes are often made unofficially, though elements of fan fiction are sometimes used in official, though usually non-canonical, storylines.
Stories that fall into this definition are usually "what-ifs", where possibilities arising from circumstances which do not occur in the original fictional universe are explored. For example, the premise of an alternative universe story may go something like this: "What would happen if character X was killed before event Y could happen?" Unlike regular fan fiction, which generally remains within the boundaries of the canon set out by the author, alternative universe fiction writers like to explore the possibilities of pivotal changes made to characters' history, motivations, or environment.
Usage examples of "alternative universe".
For example, the alternative universe and/or time line wherein the Klingons and Federation remained at war, from which Tasha Yar crossed over and eventually became the mother of Sela.
Then there was the alternative universe and/or time line which James Kirk and several of his command crew encountered that was a ‘.
The alternative universe notion was something Greg had clung to for a brief hopeful moment.
As the universe is all full up now, mankind is looking for new places to live in and your great (to the power of 23,000,000)-grandson has come up with this new spaceship drive system that will take a pilot into an alternative universe in another dimension.
Now here it was, the real thing, and it was so easy he kept wondering if he'd fallen through a wormhole into some alternative universe.
It so galls Northeastern liberals that Republican George Bush went to an Ivy League school, they cant resist publicly fantasizing about an alternative universe in which Yale rejects him.
It so galls Northeastern liberals that Republican George Bush went to an Ivy League school, they can't resist publicly fantasizing about an alternative universe in which Yale rejects him.
Thirdly, _The Dark Tower_ incorporates one of my favourite horror story ingredients: an alternative universe.
Each of the fish tanks, with the life at the bottom, on the surface of the bottom in the mud and silt - each was an alternative universe or alternate Earth.