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1984. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
From the title of George Orwell’s 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Compare Orwellian.
Pronunciation
Noun
1984 (uncountable)
- A totalitarian or dystopic society, especially when characterised by intense surveillance of its citizens. Also used attributively.
1954 June 28, Time:Many a thoughtful man, musing over his second Martini and the evening paper, has had the uneasy feeling that 1984 was much closer.
2007 January 15, The Guardian:Yet these proposals are already being presented by the Conservatives - and many on the left - as yet another step into 1984, part of a proto-tyrannical package ranging from CCTV cameras to Asbos to the DNA database that they cite as evidence Britain is sleepwalking into a surveillance society.
- 2010, Peter Dale Scott, quoted in David Ray Griffin, Cognitive Infiltration:
- Those who seek to prevent 2010 from becoming 1984 will want to arm themselves with this valuable book.
Derived terms