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GEORGE ORWELL: NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR

NEWSPEAK DICTIONARY

Newspeak is the official language of Oceania in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984). The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible.

Here are the Newspeak words that Orwell explains, in the novel and in its appendix, The Principles of Newspeak: each in his own words, with a link to the passage. The word doublespeak, often put down to Orwell, does not occur in either.

artsem
All children were to be begotten by artificial insemination (artsem, it was called in Newspeak) and brought up in public institutions. - Part I, Chapter VI
bellyfeel
...the full force of the word bellyfeel, which implied a blind, enthusiastic acceptance difficult to imagine today... - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
blackwhite
The keyword here is blackwhite. Like so many Newspeak words, this word has two mutually contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. - Part II, Chapter IX
crimestop
Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity. - Part II, Chapter IX
crimethink
All words grouping themselves round the concepts of liberty and equality, for instance, were contained in the single word crimethink... - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
doubleplusgood, plusgood
“Plusgood” covers the meaning, or “doubleplusgood” if you want something stronger still. - Part I, Chapter V
doublethink
Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. - Part II, Chapter IX
duckspeak
This aim was frankly admitted in the Newspeak word duckspeak, meaning ‘to quack like a duck’. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
facecrime
In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called. - Part I, Chapter V
goodsex
He knew what was meant by goodsex — that is to say, normal intercourse between man and wife, for the sole purpose of begetting children, and without physical pleasure on the part of the woman: all else was sexcrime. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
goodthink
...the word goodthink, meaning, very roughly, ‘orthodoxy’, or, if one chose to regard it as a verb, ‘to think in an orthodox manner’. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
Ingsoc
He did not believe he had ever heard the word Ingsoc before 1960, but it was possible that in its Oldspeak form — ‘English Socialism’, that is to say — it had been current earlier. - Part I, Chapter III
joycamp
Such words, for instance, as joycamp (forced-labour camp) or Minipax (Ministry of Peace, i.e. Ministry of War) meant almost the exact opposite of what they appeared to mean. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, Miniplenty
The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs. Their names, in Newspeak: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty. - Part I, Chapter I
Newspeak
Newspeak was the official language of Oceania and had been devised to meet the ideological needs of Ingsoc, or English Socialism. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
Oldspeak
It was expected that Newspeak would have finally superseded Oldspeak (or Standard English, as we should call it) by about the year 2050. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
oldthink
...the word oldthink, which was inextricably mixed up with the idea of wickedness and decadence. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
ownlife
There was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife, it was called, meaning individualism and eccentricity. - Part I, Chapter VIII
Pornosec
There was even a whole sub-section — Pornosec, it was called in Newspeak — engaged in producing the lowest kind of pornography, which was sent out in sealed packets and which no Party member, other than those who worked on it, was permitted to look at. - Part I, Chapter IV
prolefeed
An example was prolefeed, meaning the rubbishy entertainment and spurious news which the Party handed out to the masses. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
Recdep, Ficdep, Teledep
In the Ministry of Truth, for example, the Records Department, in which Winston Smith worked, was called Recdep, the Fiction Department was called Ficdep, the Teleprogrammes Department was called Teledep, and so on. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
sexcrime
Sexcrime covered all sexual misdeeds whatever. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
thinkpol
In the word crimethink (thoughtcrime), for instance, the think came second, whereas in thinkpol (Thought Police) it came first, and in the latter word police had lost its second syllable. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
thoughtcrime
He had committed — would still have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper — the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it. - Part I, Chapter I
ungood
Given, for instance, the word good, there was no need for such a word as bad, since the required meaning was equally well — indeed, better — expressed by ungood. - Appendix: The Principles of Newspeak
unperson
Withers, however, was already an unperson. He did not exist: he had never existed. - Part I, Chapter IV

Read Nineteen Eighty-Four: Part I, Part II, Part III and the Appendix.


‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’: [Index] [Part I] [Part II] [Part III] [Appendix]

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