newspeak n.

the artificial language used for official propaganda in the dystopia of Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four; (hence) any form of English regarded as dishonest, corrupt, etc.; esp. ambiguous or euphemistic language as used in official pronouncements or political propaganda

Language

Dystopia

  • 1949 ‘G. Orwell’ Nineteen Eighty-Four i. 51 George Orwell bibliography

    Syme was a philologist, a specialist in Newspeak. Indeed, he was one of the enormous team of experts now engaged in compiling the Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak Dictionary.

  • 1968 F. Exley Fan’s Notes (1985) 7

    At Glacial Falls the F had been eliminated altogether on the genteel assumption that the D, the—in Newspeak—‘unpassing’™ grade, somehow represented a less equivocal failure.

  • 1991 S. J. Gould Bully for Brontosaurus vii. xxiv. 360

    Why, then, did Lavoisier end up in two pieces on the place de la Révolution (long ago renamed, in pleasant newspeak, place de la Concorde)?

  • 2002 C. Stross Router in Asimov’s Science Fiction Sept. 125 page image Charles Stross bibliography

    Build propaganda into your translation software if you want to established a favorable trading relationship. How cute. Haven’t these guys ever heard of Newspeak?

Research requirements

antedating 1949

Last modified 2023-06-05 00:12:08
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.