Meanings
plural telescreens
- literatureA screen for broadcasting television or similar media, especially one that shows propaganda and records or spies on the user.
Too many millions of people, watching their telescreens, had seen his unpardonable arrogance.
1973, Robert Theobald, Stephanie Mills, The failure of success: ecological values vs. economic myths1 more example
She pushed buttons at a new, small oval kind of telescreen, quickly gathering together the high-level authorizations it had taken hours of preparation to collect.
2002, Teresa Plowright, Dreams of an Unseen Planet
Origin
From tele- + screen, from television. Popularized by George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), in which they are used for government surveillance of citizens.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan telepantalla
- telepantallascreen for broadcasting
Chinese Mandarin 電幕 /电幕
- 電幕 /电幕 (diànmù)screen for broadcasting
Finnish kaukovarjostin
- kaukovarjostinscreen for broadcasting
French télécran
- télécranscreen for broadcasting
Portuguese teletela
- teletelascreen for broadcasting
Spanish telepantalla
- telepantallascreen for broadcasting
Turkish teleekran
- teleekranscreen for broadcasting
Cite this entry
telescreen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telescreen
“telescreen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telescreen. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “telescreen,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/telescreen.
Source: telescreen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.