1984: Appendix–Afterword

by George Orwell
Published in 1949, this dystopian classic imagines a future of perpetual war, militaristic propaganda, and total government surveillance.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part One: Chapters 1–4, Part One: Chapters 5–8, Part Two: Chapters 1–5, Part Two: Chapters 6–10, Part Three, Appendix–Afterword

Here are links to our lists for other works by George Orwell: Politics and the English Language, Shooting an Elephant, Animal Farm
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. supersede
    take the place or move into the position of
    It was expected that Newspeak would have finally superseded Oldspeak (or Standard English, as we should call it) by about the year 2050.
  2. euphony
    any pleasing and harmonious sounds
    In Newspeak, euphony outweighed every consideration other than exactitude of meaning.
  3. implication
    a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred
    The B vocabulary consisted of words which had been deliberately constructed for political purposes: words, that is to say, which not only had in every case a political implication, but were intended to impose a desirable mental attitude upon the person using them.
  4. comprehensive
    including all or everything
    These words, necessarily few in number, had had their meanings extended until they contained within themselves whole batteries of words which, as they were sufficiently covered by a single comprehensive term, could now be scrapped and forgotten.
  5. connotation
    an idea that is implied or suggested
    Other words, again, were ambivalent, having the connotation “good” when applied to the Party and “bad” when applied to its enemies.
  6. smattering
    a small number or amount
    Any scientific worker or technician could find all the words he needed in the list devoted to his own specialty, but he seldom had more than a smattering of the words occurring in the other lists.
  7. inimical
    tending to obstruct or cause harm
    Ideas inimical to Ingsoc could only be entertained in a vague wordless form, and could only be named in very broad terms which lumped together and condemned whole groups of heresies without defining them in doing so.
  8. pervade
    spread or diffuse through
    It is precisely the significance of Orwell’s book that it expresses the new mood of hopelessness which pervades our age before this mood has become manifest and taken hold of the consciousness of people.
  9. manifest
    clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
    It is precisely the significance of Orwell’s book that it expresses the new mood of hopelessness which pervades our age before this mood has become manifest and taken hold of the consciousness of people.
  10. utopia
    ideally perfect state
    The negative utopias express the mood of powerlessness and hopelessness of modern man just as the early utopias expressed the mood of self-confidence and hope of post-medieval man.
  11. pertinent
    having precise or logical relevance to the matter at hand
    Orwell’s picture is so pertinent because it offers a telling argument against the popular idea that we can save freedom and democracy by continuing the arms race and finding a “stable” deterrent.
  12. pragmatism
    the doctrine that practical consequences determine value
    The position which Orwell attributes here to the power elite can be said to be an extreme form of philosophical idealism, but it is more to the point to recognize that the concept of truth and reality which exists in 1984 is an extreme form of pragmatism in which truth becomes subordinated to the Party.
  13. viable
    capable of life or normal growth and development
    If the world of 1984 is going to be the dominant form of life on this globe, it will mean a world of madmen, and hence not a viable world (Orwell indicates this very subtly by pointing to the mad gleam in the Party leader’s eyes).
  14. renaissance
    a period of renewed activity and prominence
    On the contrary, it was quite obviously their intention to sound a warning by showing where we are headed for unless we succeed in a renaissance of the spirit of humanism and dignity which is at the very roots of Occidental culture.
  15. inherent
    existing as an essential constituent or characteristic
    All three authors imply that this danger exists not only in communism of the Russian or Chinese versions, but that it is a danger inherent in the modern mode of production and organization, and relatively independent of the various ideologies.
Created on Mon Mar 03 11:49:13 EST 2014 (updated Tue Jul 01 15:54:06 EDT 2025)

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