unperson en · NOUN
Etymology
From un- + person. Coined by George Orwell in 1949 as part of the Newspeak in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where it refers to a person who has been executed or has fallen out of favor; whose entire history has been erased.
Meanings
-
A person who has been stripped of rights, identity, or humanity.
With his identity stolen, he became an unperson, unable to prove his existence to the government.
Though Gao is classed as an unperson in China, which did not react officially yesterday, the award was forecast to cause widespread private joy there as the literary equivalent of the country winning the World Cup.
2000 October 13, John Ezard, Danny Gittings, “Nobel award amazes Chinese writer and literary world”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 14 Oct 2016:In accordance with the change in the party line, Stalin vanished from the play, disappearing even before Mr. Krushchev's denunciation at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party. Stalin became an “unperson,” in the terminology of George Orwell's “1984”.
1965 February 25, Harrison E. Salisbury, “Kremlin Chimes' Banished Stalin”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 01 Nov 2021:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| unpersons | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| unpeople | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Translations (11)
hu nemszemély (human stripped of rights) · hu jogaitól megfosztott személy (human stripped of rights) · pt impessoa (human stripped of rights) · cmn 非人 (human stripped of rights) · fi epähenkilö (human stripped of rights) · ko 사람이 아닌 (human stripped of rights) · tr yokkişi (human stripped of rights) · hu nem létezőnek tekintett személy (human stripped of rights) · pt despessoa (human stripped of rights) · tr yokkişiler (human stripped of rights) · eo malpersono (human stripped of rights)