unperson
1
9.9
- noun
- /ʌnˈpɜrsən/
- Offensive
:
persona borrada
- In the dystopian novel, those who opposed the regime became unpersons, erased from all records and memory.
Examples
-
I'm kind of an unperson!
Fiction book (1998) -
A powerful man gives the thumbs up, and an unperson dies along with his family and any unfortunates in the vicinity.
Blog text (25) -
I've become an unperson, just like when a cop's being deloused by Internal Affairs?
Fiction book (1999) -
Rutherford unperson.
-
It's the same reason why George W. Bush did not appear at the GOP convention and wasn't seen at all out on the campaign trail; he has become an UnPerson/UnPresident to them.
Blog text (2) -
Recall that the Soviet encyclopedia came out with regular updates, including a razor blade to remove the pages on which appeared pictures of people who had been made unpersons.
Blog text (27) -
The political dissident was declared an unperson after criticizing the government's policies, losing all rights and recognition.
-
After the controversial speech, anyone associated with him was turned into an unperson by the media, as if they had never existed.
Synonyms
11
9.4
A person who is not welcome in a place, often for official reasons
A person who is not wanted in a place or group
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Unperson comes from the prefix un- meaning 'not' and the ordinary word person. It was made famous by George Orwell in his novel 1984, where people were erased from records and memory, so an unperson is someone officially ignored or made to 'not exist'.