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Orwellian

[ awr-wel-ee-uhn ]

adjective

  1. of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or resembling the literary work of George Orwell or the totalitarian future described in his antiutopian novel 1984 (1949).


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Word History and Origins

Origin of Orwellian1

1945–50; after G. Orwell ( def ) + -ian
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Example Sentences

The ghost of George Orwell may be conjured too readily and too often, these days, but this truly is Orwellian.

Orwellian, Malthusian, barbarous, depraved…I think you get me.

There has been an almost Orwellian artfulness in the way need-blind admissions policies are sold.

But while another bureaucracy may not be the answer (even the name sounds Orwellian), oversight is clearly needed.

Venezuelans are accustomed to their government using Orwellian language.

No one called them “attractions” anymore—all that old Orwellian Disneyspeak had been abolished.

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Orwell, Georgeor what