Meanings
plural facecrimes
- countableuncountableA facial expression considered unacceptable.
Others spoke of “facecrimes” with which white, male professors were now being charged, ...
1999, Cyril Levitt, Scott Davies, Neil McLaughlin, Mistaken Identities: The Second Wave of Controversy Over "political Correctness", Peter Lang Pub Incorporated2 more examples
It's getting hard to keep track of all the blue-check marks who called for the death of these kids.
2019 January 24, Ubiquitous, “Facial expressions and hats as evidence of wrongdoing are "Facecrimes" straight out of 1984”, in alt.politics.correct (Usenet)The Oak was trying, with small success, not to commit what George Orwell would have called a facecrime.
1997, Gerald Paul James McGinley, True Counsel
Origin
From face + crime. Coined by George Orwell in 1949 as part of the Newspeak in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where it refers to the act of having a facial expression indicating an unacceptable state of mind.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
facecrime. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/facecrime
“facecrime.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/facecrime. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “facecrime,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/facecrime.
Source: facecrime on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.