doublethink

noun

dou·​ble·​think ˈdə-bəl-ˌthiŋk How to pronounce doublethink (audio)
: a simultaneous belief in two contradictory ideas

Examples of doublethink in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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This month, Beijing is marking a half-century since the start of the Cultural Revolution with an act of Orwellian doublethink. Nick Frisch, Foreign Affairs, 17 May 2016 Soviet-era doublethink, whereby people had no qualms about saying one thing and believing another, was updated for the twenty-first century, fueled by high production values and slick PR. Joshua Yaffa, Foreign Affairs, 20 Apr. 2015 In short, social media – the primary source of news for millennials and Gen Z — has spawned an inversion of reality, a huge dose of doublethink. Barth Keck, Hartford Courant, 31 May 2024 George Orwell labeled the ability doublethink or indoctrination. Andy Kessler, WSJ, 11 Sep. 2022 For weeks, people in Ukraine, and some people in Russia, have been stuck in the purgatory of doublethink. Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 15 Feb. 2022 There’s a convoluted doublethink necessary to be a woman demanding power and a degree of liberty while working on behalf of a religious framework that doesn’t support either. Alison Willmore, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2021 The doublethink created by this language exasperates Carl Hart, a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University. Mike Jay, The New York Review of Books, 5 Nov. 2020 Emirati officials appear to reject the doublethink on Israelis and Jews that is prevalent in Egypt and Jordan. Dore Feith, National Review, 3 Dec. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1949, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of doublethink was in 1949

Dictionary Entries Near doublethink

Cite this Entry

“Doublethink.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doublethink. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.

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