a person who is completely ignored, as if he or she does not exist; specif., such a person officially ignored by his or her own government
Origin of unperson
coined by George Orwell in his novel Nineteen Eighty-four (published 1949)unperson
un·per·sonWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"unperson." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/unperson>.
APA Style
unperson. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/unperson
unperson
noun
A nonperson.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"unperson." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/unperson>.
APA Style
unperson. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/unperson
Noun
(plural unpersons or unpeople)
- A human who has been stripped of rights, identity or humanity.
- With his identity stolen he became an unperson unable to prove his existence to the government.
Origin
un- +"Ž person. From the synthetic language "newspeak" in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), where it refers to a person who has not only been executed but whose entire history has been erased.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"unperson." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/unperson>.
APA Style
unperson. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/unperson
