Orwellian

English 2026 October 4 George-orwell-BBC.jpg The English writer George Orwell at the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) in 1940. Orwell posing with a microphone Yakov Guminer - Arithmetic of a counter-plan poster (1931).jpg A 1931 poster by Yakov Guminer which reads: “ru Арифметика встречного промфинплана: 2 + 2 плюс энтузиазм рабочих = 5” (“The arithmetic of an industrial-financial counter-plan: 2 + 2 plus the enthusiasm of the workers = 5”). The poster supported Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s 1930 announcement that the first five-year plan (1928–1933) would be completed in four years’ time in 1932. On the other hand, in Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, it is suggested that if the totalitarian ruling party declared that 2 + 2 = 5, people might not simply be forced to believe it but might come to do so, despite common sense telling them that the equation is objectively wrong. The ability of a government to distort reality in this way can be described as Orwellian (en relating to Orwell). A poster with a young man using calipers to measure an object and a large "2 + 2 = 5" slogan on it Etymology en relating to George Orwell :af Orwell -ian<pos:suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘from; like; related to’; and forming nouns meaning ‘one belonging to, from, like, or relating to’> + 1 1, from the surname of George Orwell, the pseudonym of the English writer Eric Arthur Blair (1903–1950).adj. and n 6817939974 December 2025 1; adj Pronunciation en /ɔːˈwɛl.i.ən/ RP en LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Orwellian.wav Southern England en /oɹˈwɛl.i.ən/ GA en LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Orwellian.wav GA en ɛliən 4 en Or well i an Adjective en relating to Orwell Of or relating to the English writer George Orwell, or en especially his ideas and writings (particularly his 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four). en 46 It is best to use the Orwellian method on Orwell: to look at the context without the dubious benefit of a ready-made, off-the-peg line. George Orwell: Into the Twenty-first Century 2: In Defense of Comrade Psmith: The Orwellian Treatment of Orwell 2004 Thomas Cushman and John Rodden 9781594510038 Paradigm en politics specifically Resembling the totalitarian political methods criticized in Orwell's works, particularly in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, which are characterized by the use of censorship, misleading terminology, propaganda, repression, and surveillance. from 1950. en 1984-esque 1984-ish Orwellesque 1950, Peter Viereck, Public Affairs volume 13, p. 22, published by the Institute of Public Affairs, Dalhousie University (later republished in 1953 in Shame and Glory of the Intellectuals: Babbitt Jr. Vs. the Rediscovery of Values by the Beacon Press p. 204) “But they soon find out that an enforced equality, without free individualism to temper it, becomes an Orwellian nightmare-version of the workers' paradise, in which ‘all are equal, but some are more equal than others.’” en 1954 Sisley Huddleston Popular Diplomacy and War “The Orwellian slogan that ‘War is Peace’ was, consciously or unconsciously, from the beginning adopted by both conflicting groups within the U.N.” en 2013-03-12 Andrew Jacobs; Patrick Zuo; Shi Da Non-Communist Parties Lend China an Air of Pluralism, Without the Mess w:The New York Times https://web.archive.org/web/20130315231416/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/world/asia/chinas-non-communist-parties-lend-an-air-of-pluralism.html 0362-4331 1645522 Asia Pacific Largely invisible much of the year, China’s non-Communist parties are thrust to the fore each March for a display of what the official news media calls China’s system of “multiparty cooperation and political consultation.”The news conference, held in a gilded meeting room in the Great Hall of the People, is an Orwellian affair, with party leaders referring to the wonders of “democratic centralization,” heaping praise on the Communist Party and then answering fawning questions from the state media. en Anthony Faiola 2014-09-25 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/an-orwellian-nightmare-for-pro-ukrainians-in-rebel-held-east/2014/09/24/1bc10b94-4a70-4419-aceb-16e10d92528a_story.html An Orwellian nightmare for pro-Ukrainians in rebel-held east w:The Washington Post Nash Holdings, LLC 2014-09-25 In this metropolis that had a prewar population of almost a million, but where the city center now feels like an Orwellian ghost town of propaganda posters and armed patrols, perhaps no one feels more alone than those who still harbor pro-Ukrainian sentiments. https://web.archive.org/web/20160314023108/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/an-orwellian-nightmare-for-pro-ukrainians-in-rebel-held-east/2014/09/24/1bc10b94-4a70-4419-aceb-16e10d92528a_story.html en w:Glenn Greenwald 2015-03-13 https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/13/orwellian-re-branding-mass-surveillance-merely-bulk-collection/ The Orwellian Re-Branding of ‘Mass Surveillance’ as Merely ‘Bulk Collection’ First Look w:The Intercept 2015-03-14 Just as the Bush administration and the U.S. media re-labelled ‘torture’ with the Orwellian euphemism ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ to make it more palatable, the governments and media of the Five Eyes surveillance alliance are now attempting to re-brand ‘mass surveillance’ as ‘bulk collection’ in order to make it less menacing (and less illegal)... just as it was stunning to watch media outlets refuse to use the term ‘torture’ because the U.S. Government demanded that it be called something else – this Orwellian switch in surveillance language is now predictably (and mindlessly) being adopted by those nations’ most state-loyal media outlets. https://web.archive.org/web/20150314132211/https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/13/orwellian-re-branding-mass-surveillance-merely-bulk-collection/ en w:Neil MacFarquhar Two Days of Russian News Coverage: An Alternate Reality of War w:The New York Times 2022-03-08 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/world/europe/russia-ukraine-media.html 0362-4331 To spend several days watching news broadcasts on the main state channels, as well as surveying state-controlled newspapers, is to witness the extent of the Kremlin’s efforts to sanitize its war with the Orwellian term “special military operation” — and to make all news coverage align with that message. https://web.archive.org/web/20220310031653/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/world/europe/russia-ukraine-media.html en-GB Senay Boztas ‘We are in a kind of war’: row over viral Amsterdam chip shop lands in court The Guardian 2026-10-04 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/04/viral-amsterdam-chip-shop-court-fabel-friet 0261-3077 “There’s something very alarming about the fact that these people are all led by their higher power – influencers – and call themselves followers,” said van Leeuwen. “It’s Orwellian. This court case is part of the parasitic industry that lives on tourists.” Derived terms en Orwellianism en Orwellianly Related terms en Orwellesque en Orwellism Translations of or relating to George Orwell, or his ideas and writings Arabic: ar أَرْوَلِيّ m Catalan: ca orwel·lià m Czech: cs orwellovský Danish: da orwellsk Dutch: nl Orwelliaans, nl orwelliaans Finnish: fi orwellilainen French: fr orwellien Greek: el οργουελικός Italian: it orwelliano Norwegian: Bokmål: nb orwellsk Nynorsk: nn orwellsk Occitan: oc orwellian Persian: fa اورولی Polish: pl orwellowski Portuguese: pt orwelliano Russian: ru оруэлловский, ru о́руэлльский Spanish: es orwelliano Swedish: sv orwellsk Turkish: tr Orwellyen resembling the totalitarian political methods criticized in Orwell’s works totalitarian Finnish: fi orwellilainen French: fr See also en Big Brother doublethink dystopian Kafkaesque Newspeak Noun One who admires the ideas and writings of the English writer George Orwell. Translations one who admires the ideas and writings of George Orwell Finnish: fi orwellilainen French: fr References Further reading Q2156379 en eponyms en Utopian and dystopian fiction