English
Etymology
Coined in the 1950s in the vein of w:George Orwell|George Orwell's w:Newspeak|Newspeak as used in his book w:Nineteen Eighty-Four|Nineteen Eighty-Four. The word doublespeak does not appear in the book, although newspeak, oldspeak, and doublethink do.
Noun
en-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.
#:The report was riddled with so much corporate doublespeak that it was impossible to interpret.
#*1976, Brent D. Ruben, The Coming of the Information Age, in Information and Behavior (Brent D. Ruben, ed.), page 7
#*:The popular and convergent use of information seems to represent something beyond the mere cosmetics of doublespeak, of a "garbage collector" turned "sanitary engineer" or a "strike" turned "work stoppage."
See also
pedialite
fr:doublespeak
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