Orwell

American  

[awr-wel, -wuhl] / ˈɔr wɛl, -wəl /

noun

1. George Eric Arthur Blair, 1903–50, English novelist and essayist.

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Orwell British  

/ ˈɔːwəl, ɔːˈwɛlɪən, -wɛl /

noun

1. George, real name Eric Arthur Blair. 1903–50, English novelist and essayist, born in India. He is notable for his social criticism, as in The Road to Wigan Pier (1932); his account of his experiences of the Spanish Civil War Homage to Catalonia (1938); and his satirical novels Animal Farm (1945), an allegory on the Russian Revolution, and 1984 (1949), in which he depicts an authoritarian state of the future

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Other Word Forms

• Orwellian
  adjective

Example Sentences

As the cautionary 1945 fable “Animal Farm” memorably shows, George Orwell had some thoughts about the Soviet Union and the terrible folly in politicized moralism.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026

The strenuous attempts at hipness here are as antithetical to Orwell as any other element.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

That’s an outcome that would be, in the words of Orwell himself, “doubleplusgood”.

From Barron's • Feb. 4, 2026

Victoria was an A-Level student at Orwell High School in Felixstowe and hoped to go to university to study sociology.

From BBC • Feb. 2, 2026

Von Linden was not any more human grilling me about Orwell last night than when he was grilling me about those blasted codes two weeks ago.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein