Word.ws English Dictionary

1984

UK/ˌnaɪn.tiːnˌeɪ.tiˈfɔː//ˌnaɪn.tinˌeɪ.tiˈfɔɹ/

1984 proper noun: a totalitarian or dystopic society, especially when characterised by intense surveillance of its citizens.

Proper noun

1984

  1. (attributive, sometimes) A totalitarian or dystopic society, especially when characterised by intense surveillance of its citizens.
    • literally 1984
    • Many a thoughtful man, musing over his second Martini and the evening paper, has had the uneasy feeling that 1984 was much closer.1954 June 28, Time

Origin of 1984

From the title of George Orwell’s 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Compare Orwellian.

Words formed from 1984

Questions about 1984

What does 1984 mean?
1984 means a totalitarian or dystopic society, especially when characterised by intense surveillance of its citizens.
What part of speech is 1984?
1984 is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce 1984?
1984 is pronounced /ˌnaɪn.tiːnˌeɪ.tiˈfɔː/ (UK).

Words near 1984 in the dictionary

  1. 1970's
  2. 1970s
  3. 1980
  4. 1980's
  5. 1980s
  6. 1984
  7. 1984-esque
  8. 1984-ish
  9. 1984esque
  10. 1984ish
  11. 1986 Act tenancies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 1984 (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-1984.wav.

Cite this entry: “1984.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/1984. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.