An ansible's a hypothetical machine capable of superluminal (or faster than light) communication. Ansibles are used as plot devices in science fiction literature. Origin The word ansible was coined by Ursula K. Le Guin in her 1966 novel, Rocannon's World. Le Guin states that she derived the name from "answerable," as the device would allow its users to receive answers to their messages in a reasonable amount of time, even over interstellar distances. Her award-winning 1974 novel The Disposses… (More on Ansible)