Word.ws English Dictionary

two plus two equals five

two plus two equals five phrase: a transparently absurd claim, often accepted as a result of a tyrannical government or mass delusion.

Phrase

two plus two equals five

  1. (excessive, figuratively) A transparently absurd claim, often accepted as a result of a tyrannical government or mass delusion.
    • Consequently, if it be claimed that, under the French constitution, 200,000 individuals, out of 26 million citizens, constitute two-thirds of the common will, only one comment is possible: It is a claim that two and two make five.1789, Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (tr.), What Is the Third Estate?
    • In the end, the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. […] For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and...1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
    Synonyms:
    2+2=5, 2 + 2 = 5

Synonyms of two plus two equals five

  • 2+2=5
  • 2 + 2 = 5

Origin of two plus two equals five

Popularized by George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, referencing a scene in which the protagonist Winston Smith wonders if the authoritarian Inner Party would declare that "two plus two equals five". However, figurative use dates back to the 18th century.

Questions about two plus two equals five

What does two plus two equals five mean?
Two plus two equals five means a transparently absurd claim, often accepted as a result of a tyrannical government or mass delusion.
What part of speech is two plus two equals five?
Two plus two equals five is a phrase.

Words near two plus two equals five in the dictionary

  1. two pennorths
  2. two percenter
  3. two percenters
  4. two pesos
  5. two pips
  6. two plus two equals five
  7. two points
  8. two pot screamer
  9. two pot screamers
  10. Two Rivers
  11. two sauce long

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: two plus two equals five (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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