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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

1984-ish en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • (General-American) audio
  • /ˌnʌɪntiːneɪtiˈfɔːɹɪʃ/ (UK)
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From 1984 + -ish, a reference to the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Piecewise doublet of 1984-esque.

Meanings

  1. (informal) Resembling or pertaining to a totalitarian society, especially one characterised by intensive surveillance of the population.
    • The poems were then posted on a Library of Congress website, and high school principals were encouraged in the slightly 1984-ish task of reading them over their loud speakers each morning at the beginning of the school day. 2007, Jerome Sala, What if someone were listening? Contemporary poetry and the problem of popularity, page 140:
    • All these technologies sound a bit ominous and 1984-ish when taken out of context. 2011, John E.B. Myers, The APSAC Handbook on Child Maltreatment, page viii:
    • I have no idea what this 1984-ish-sounding organization actually does, though I suspect it has something to do with industrial processes. 2000, G. R. Evans, Martyn Percy, Managing the Church?: Order and Organization in a Secular Age, page 128:
    • A truly 1984-ish paradox. What had gone down the memory hole? 2011, Charles Forbin, The Diaries of Ay'esha: Trapped and Trained, page 171:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
more 1984-ish Degree=Cmp lexicographic
1984ish alternative lexicographic
most 1984-ish Degree=Sup lexicographic

Synonyms

Orwellesque · 1984-esque · Orwellian

wikipedia: Nineteen Eighty-Four