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Nineteen Eighty-Four

Cultural  
  1. (1949) A novel by George Orwell. Nineteen Eighty-Four depicts a totalitarian society of the future, ruled by an omnipotent dictator called Big Brother. In this society, called Oceania, people's thoughts are controlled as tightly as their actions. The government maintains an organization called the “thought police” and engages in constant propaganda. (See also Big Brother is watching you.)


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Orwell coined the term doublespeak to describe one kind of propaganda practiced by the state in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

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The series, which takes its name from the all-seeing ruler in George Orwell's 1949 novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, first appeared on Channel 4 in 2000, and was won by Liverpudlian building Craig Phillips.

From BBC Aug. 2, 2022

The totalitarian attitude is exemplified by the antagonist, O'Brien, in "Nineteen Eighty-Four."

From Salon Aug. 28, 2021

In an early chapter, Menand writes of the enormous success of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949, which many stateside readers assumed was about Stalinism.

From Slate Apr. 23, 2021

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four,” George Orwell wrote in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

From The Guardian Dec. 15, 2019

“The World of Nineteen Eighty-Four ended in 1989,” historian Timothy Garton-Ash declared optimistically in 2001.

From Washington Post Jun. 20, 2019

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