nineteen eighty-four
The year-date (freq. written in form 1984): the title of an apocalyptic novel (1949) by ‘George Orwell’ portraying a society in which government propaganda and terrorizing destroy consciousness of reality; freq. used allusively. Also 1984-ish. Cf. doublethink, double-think, Newspeak.
| 1959 Benn & Peters Social Principles x. 225 Our antipathy to nineteen eighty-four methods may be due in part to the evil ends with which we associate them, or with the physical and mental cruelty involved in particular techniques. 1959 Times 6 May 15/7 We had a constant 1984-ish feeling as we worked in these vast abandoned castles. 1961 L. Mumford City in History xvii. 527 Whether they extrapolate 1960 or anticipate 2060 their goal is actually ‘1984’. 1968 Listener 29 Feb. 261/1 David Brinkley..pointed to the spokesman who claimed, ‘We had to destroy that village to save it,’ and commented that 1984 Newspeak had come to 1968. 1970 Time 16 Nov. 14 The political uses of television advertising and packaging of candidates were heralded by..doom⁓sayers as the ominous forerunner of 1984. |