Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning, often by employing euphemism or ambiguity. Typically used by governments or large institutions.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any language that pretends to communicate but actually does not

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

double +‎ -speak. Coined in the 1950s in the vein of George Orwell's Newspeak as used in his book Nineteen Eighty-Four. The word doublespeak does not appear in the book, although newspeak, oldspeak, and doublethink do.

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Examples

  • ‡ Orwell coined the term doublespeak to describe one kind of propaganda practiced by the state in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

    Nineteen Eighty-Four 2002

  • Well, for a lady who thinks she can accuse the CIA of lying to her and not expect repercussions, I guess this sort of misguided doublespeak is par for the course. dreamer

    Pelosi: There will be public option in House health care bill 2009

  • But then doublespeak is the lingua franca of the fight game – not that Chisora is complaining about a deal that could deliver not just one Klitschko but both of them.

    Dereck Chisora delighted with three-fight deal for Klitschkos' titles Kevin Mitchell 2010

  • Obama's slavish conformity to pro-choice doublespeak is especially relentless.

    Verbal Duplicity and False Choices 2009

  • On the blogs and elsewhere, it is being played out as if this is more evidence of Hillary engaging in doublespeak, or flip-flopping, or whatever, and, quite frankly, it is bullshit.

    Balloon Juice » 2007 » October 2007

  • The word doublespeak was coined in the early 1950's after George Orwell's book, 1984, was published in the late 1940's.

    Beth Arnold: Spinning the Spin 2008

  • The word doublespeak grew out of this post-1984 culture and is just as timely today.

    Beth Arnold: Spinning the Spin 2008

  • The doublespeak is needed because of the contradiction between the Bush Administration's concept of freedom and democracy and the actual principles and requirements of freedom and democracy.

    The Bubble of American Supremacy 2003

  • The doublespeak is needed because of the contradiction between the Bush Administration's concept of freedom and democracy and the actual principles and requirements of freedom and democracy.

    The Bubble of American Supremacy 2003

  • The concept was later refined as "doublespeak" -- which is simply the notion that if you say something often enough, you can convince normal people that something is its opposite.

    George Orwell is Reborn as Mitch McConnell 2010

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