Meanings
- attributivesometimesA totalitarian or dystopic society, especially when characterised by intense surveillance of its citizens.First known use 20th c.
literally 1984
3 more examples
Many a thoughtful man, musing over his second Martini and the evening paper, has had the uneasy feeling that 1984 was much closer.
1954 June 28, TimeYet 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.
2007 January 15, Johann Hari, “Johann Hari: When the Government acts, why do we always assume there is something to fear?”, in The Independent, archived from the original on 08 Jul 2022Those who seek to prevent 2010 from becoming 1984 will want to arm themselves with this valuable book.
2010, Peter Dale Scott, quoted in David Ray Griffin, Cognitive Infiltration
Origin
From the title of George Orwell’s 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Compare Orwellian.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
1984. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/1984
“1984.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/1984. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “1984,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/1984.
Source: 1984 on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.