Meanings
alternative security theatre
- uncountableSecurity measures which are intended to, or do, provide a feeling or illusion of improved security, while doing little or nothing to actually improve security.
But some countermeasures provide the feeling of security instead of the reality. These are nothing more than security theater.
2003 July 28, Bruce Schneier, Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World, Springer, page 382 more examples
I do care about security. I survived the attack on the World Trade Center and I believe 9/11 was allowed to occur through a failure of intelligence. I thank TSA agents for searching me: applause for security theater.
2013 August 22, Jeff Jarvis, “As a Democrat, I am disgusted with President Obama”, in The Guardian[Bruce] Schneier agrees that Covid-19 has ushered in an era of hygiene theatre. “Like security theatre,” he says, “hygiene theatre comes from bad risk analysis – really, from ignorance.”
2021 July 12, Sirin Kale, “Hygiene theatre: how excessive cleaning gives us a false sense of security”, in The Guardian
Origin
Coined by American computer scientist Bruce Schneier in 2003.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Danish sikkerhedsteater
- sikkerhedsteatermeasures which provide a sense of security without providing security
French comédie sécuritaire
- comédie sécuritairemeasures which provide a sense of security without providing security
German Sicherheitstheater
- Sicherheitstheatermeasures which provide a sense of security without providing security
Cite this entry
security theater. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/security%20theater
“security theater.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/security%20theater. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “security theater,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/security%20theater.
Source: security theater on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.