Meanings
- uncountableAny language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning, often by employing euphemism or ambiguity.
The report was riddled with so much corporate doublespeak that it was impossible to interpret.
1 more example
The popular and convergent use of information seems to represent something beyond the mere cosmetics of doublespeak, of a "garbage collector" turned "sanitary engineer" or a "strike" turned "work stoppage."
1976, Brent D. Ruben, “The Coming of the Information Age”, in Brent D. Ruben, editor, Information and Behavior, page 7Synonyms: double talk
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning, often by employing euphemism or ambiguity.
Origin
From double + -speak. Coined in the 1950s in the vein of George Orwell's Newspeak as used in his book Nineteen Eighty-Four. The word doublespeak does not appear in the book, although newspeak, oldspeak, and doublethink do.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 雙言巧語 /双言巧语
- 雙言巧語 /双言巧语 (shuāngyánqiǎoyǔ)language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning
Finnish kaksoispuhe
- kaksoispuhelanguage deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning
French double langage, double discours
- double langagelanguage deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning
- double discourslanguage deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning
Greek διγλωσσία
- διγλωσσία (diglossía)language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning
Hungarian mellébeszélés, kettős beszéd
- mellébeszéléslanguage deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning
- kettős beszédlanguage deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning
Polish gra półsłówek
- gra półsłóweklanguage deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning
Spanish doble lenguaje
- doble lenguajelanguage deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning
Swedish skenspråk
- skenspråklanguage deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning
Cite this entry
doublespeak. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doublespeak
“doublespeak.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doublespeak. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “doublespeak,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doublespeak.
Source: doublespeak on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.