Orwellian
adjective
Or·well·ian
ȯr-ˈwe-lē-ən 
: of, relating to, or suggestive of George Orwell or his writings
especially
: relating to or suggestive of the dystopian reality depicted in the novel 1984
Privacy advocates … warn that advances in technology and data collection simply make an Orwellian slippery slope even more slippery. —
Barbara Presley Noble
Barbara Presley Noble Some critics view knowledge engineering as a threat, as the vanguard of an Orwellian future in which thinking machines take control. —Robert Reinhold
Robert Reinhold The X-Files and its spooky televised brethren dwell in that political twilight zone where left and right meet and greet—an Orwellian, Kafka-esque alien nation that's populated with suspicious folks who have too much time on their hands and a deep sense that something is horribly, horribly wrong. —David Wild
David Wild Now despised and feared, the Army has become a virtual occupation force in its own country, compounding what was already an Orwellian nightmare of spies, doublespeak propaganda, curfews, and petty state control of daily life. —Clayton Jones
Clayton Jones
Orwellianism
ȯr-ˈwe-lē-ə-ˌni-zəm
noun
-ˈwel-yə-ˌni-zəm
Orwellianism isn't just about big government; it's about authoritarianism coupled with lies.
—Gordon Bowker
Gordon Bowker
Examples of Orwellian in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The use of this type of health data by employers may feel Orwellian and could feed into surveillance culture in the workplace, eroding employee trust.
—Janice Gassam Asare, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
Down the memory hole Even before the Trump administration announced its review of the Smithsonian, officials in departments across government had taken unprecedented steps to rewrite the nation’s official history, attempting to purge parts of the historical narrative down Orwellian memory holes.
—Laura Beers, The Conversation, 20 Aug. 2025
Their insistence on clinging to an increasingly obsolete financial infrastructure means that Americans will continue to be saddled with billions in unnecessary fees every year and that corporations will be empowered to erode our privacy in Orwellian fashion.
—Nicholas Creel, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Aug. 2025
Trump’s Orwellian orders seek to undo a half-century of scholarship that revealed a far more complex and nuanced history than the simplified versions taught to generations of schoolchildren.
—John Lawrence, Twin Cities, 18 July 2025
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Janice Gassam Asare, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
Down the memory hole Even before the Trump administration announced its review of the Smithsonian, officials in departments across government had taken unprecedented steps to rewrite the nation’s official history, attempting to purge parts of the historical narrative down Orwellian memory holes.
—Laura Beers, The Conversation, 20 Aug. 2025
Their insistence on clinging to an increasingly obsolete financial infrastructure means that Americans will continue to be saddled with billions in unnecessary fees every year and that corporations will be empowered to erode our privacy in Orwellian fashion.
—Nicholas Creel, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Aug. 2025
Trump’s Orwellian orders seek to undo a half-century of scholarship that revealed a far more complex and nuanced history than the simplified versions taught to generations of schoolchildren.
—John Lawrence, Twin Cities, 18 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for Orwellian
Cite this Entry
“Orwellian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Orwellian. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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