- telescreennounChapter 1 →
A two-way television screen used by the Party to broadcast propaganda and simultaneously spy on citizens in their homes and workplaces, so that no one is ever truly alone or unobserved.
“the telescreen blasts propaganda”
- doublethinknounChapter 1 →
The Party-trained ability to hold two contradictory beliefs at the same time and accept both as true, without noticing or caring about the contradiction.
- thoughtcrimenounChapter 5 →
Any private thought that goes against the Party's rules or ideology, treated as a punishable crime even though it never becomes a physical act.
“the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible”
- vaporizedverbChapter 5 →
Secretly arrested and killed by the Party, then erased from all records so that the person is treated as if they never existed at all.
“Syme will be vaporized. He is too intelligent.”
- NewspeaknounChapter 5 →
The deliberately shrunk official language of Oceania, designed by the Party to eliminate words for rebellious ideas so that dissent eventually becomes impossible to think or express.
“the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought”
- prolesnounChapter 7 →
The working-class majority of Oceania's population, roughly 85 percent, kept poor and uneducated and largely ignored by the Party because they are not considered a political threat.
“If there is hope, it lies in the proles.”
- philologistnounChapter 5 →
A specialist who studies the history and structure of language; Syme uses this expertise to help the Party destroy words rather than preserve them.
- collatedverbChapter 4 →
Gathered and carefully checked in the correct order before being combined into a final version, here referring to the corrected newspaper articles before reprinting.
“once the corrections which happened to be necessary in any particular number of The Times had been assembled and collated, that number would be reprinted”
- falsificationnounChapter 4 →
The deliberate altering of records, facts, or documents to make them say something untrue, which is Winston's actual daily job at the Ministry of Truth.
“In no case would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place.”
- forgerynounChapter 4 →
The creation of a fake document or record designed to pass as genuine; here, inventing a person's entire history so completely that the lie becomes accepted as historical fact.
“when once the act of forgery was forgotten, he would exist just as authentically”
- undifferentiatedadjectiveChapter 10 →
Not divided into separate types or categories; here describing raw physical desire felt as one single, unspecific drive rather than love for any particular individual.
“the animal instinct, the simple undifferentiated desire: that was the force that would tear the Party to pieces.”
- disdainfullyadverbChapter 3 →
In a way that shows complete scorn or contempt, treating something as beneath notice or unworthy of care.
“With what seemed a single movement she tore off her clothes and flung them disdainfully aside.”
- fertileadjectiveChapter 2 →
Capable of bearing children; used here to describe the prole woman in purely physical, biological terms, reducing her to her reproductive function.
“The woman down there had no mind, she had only strong arms, a warm heart, and a fertile belly.”
- valiantadjectiveChapter 12 →
Showing brave, enduring strength in the face of hardship; used here to describe the prole woman's sturdy, tireless physical presence as a symbol of hope.
“The proles were immortal, you could not doubt it when you looked at that valiant figure in the yard.”
- coralnounChapter 8 →
A small lump of pink coral embedded inside a glass paperweight, which Winston sees as a symbol of the fragile, enclosed private world he and Julia have created together.
“the coral was Julia's life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal.”
- trivialitiesnounChapter 11 →
Small, unimportant everyday matters and topics of conversation that have no serious significance, the kind of ordinary talk that a normal, unwatched life would include.
“He wished that he were walking through the woods with her, talking of trivialities”
- formulateverbChapter 13 →
To put vague feelings or ideas into clear, precise words or thoughts; Winston means that only now can he state his rebellious beliefs to himself in an exact way.
“it was only now, when he had begun to be able to formulate his thoughts, that he had taken the decisive step.”
- BrotherhoodnounChapter 16 →
The secret underground resistance organisation said to be led by Emmanuel Goldstein and dedicated to overthrowing the Party, whose very existence may be a Party invention.
- oligarchicaladjectiveChapter 17 →
Relating to a system of government in which a small, exclusive group holds all power and uses it entirely for its own benefit, with no accountability to anyone outside that group.
- collectivismnounChapter 17 →
A political system in which the group or the state is treated as more important than any individual, and resources or decisions are controlled centrally rather than by private persons.
- emaciatedadjectiveChapter 20 →
Dangerously thin and weak from starvation or prolonged physical abuse, so that bones are visible and the body can barely function.
- perpetualadjectiveChapter 17 →
Never stopping; continuing without any end or pause. The Party keeps war going permanently as a tool to consume resources and maintain fear and obedience among the population.
- Thought PolicenounChapter 1 →
The secret police force of Oceania whose job is to detect and punish citizens who think or feel anything that goes against the Party, even when no physical crime has been committed.
- Inner PartynounChapter 16 →
The small, privileged ruling elite at the top of Oceania's social hierarchy, who enjoy luxury and hold real power, as distinct from the larger and much poorer Outer Party below them.
- IngsocnounChapter 2 →
The official ideology and political system of Oceania, whose name is a Newspeak contraction of 'English Socialism,' though it has nothing to do with genuine socialist principles.
Nineteen Eighty-FourNovel by George Orwell