A room for the exhibition of novelties.
Used in a Sentence
panopticon
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for panopticon.
Editorial note
Right, the panopticon is arbitrarily good for those it serves.
Examples16
Definitions4
Parts of speech1
Quick take
A room for the exhibition of novelties.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of panopticon gathered in one view.
(figurative, by extension) A place in which people are subject to constant surveillance at totalitarian command.
(historical) A kind of projector in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for panopticon.
noun
A room for the exhibition of novelties.
noun
(figurative, by extension) A place in which people are subject to constant surveillance at totalitarian command.
noun
(historical) A kind of projector in the 18th and 19th centuries.
noun
A type of prison where all the cells are visible from the center, particularly if it is not possible for those in a cell to know if they are being watched.
Example sentences
Right, the panopticon is arbitrarily good for those it serves.
As in a panopticon [2], when there's a chance you're being surveilled, certain conversations and ideas feel dangerous.
The only alternatives are bloody destructive revolutions or totalitarian panopticon police states to forcibly hold the other 90% in crushing poverty.
The first John-the-goat-fucker to be caught by the panopticon might be arrested, but the 9128th?
The least bad defense probably is to subvert this into a kind of peer to peer panopticon as much as possible.
Not sure if it’s different than using the brightest minds of our generation to sell ads and contribute to build a panopticon society.
The existence of a panopticon corpus of information on them which is only accessible to a certain group, grants power over them to that group.
Instead it seems that our leaders are using it as a blue print for a technological panopticon that could way beyond what even Orwell imagined.
It's possible that very few visitors of panopticon use W8.1.
You're getting your panopticon all mixed up in my internet.
I think people who aren't afraid of the Google panopticon won't care, and people who are afraid of it won't be reassured.
There is a real cost to living in a panopticon.
Quote examples
Why didn't you tell the world, Eh?" Benway's panopticon only functions if the inmates think they are watched.
Even having such a system in place, however, makes people behave differently: google "panopticon".
The theory is that - much as the decentralised panopticon of Van Vogt's "Anarchistic Colossus" - we'll eventually be able to parse everything everybody ever says and preemptively stop bad things.
If they are being judged (and promoted) by how "in control" they appear rather than the actual productivity of their department, I can see they'd push for large "panopticon" work spaces.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use panopticon in a sentence?
Right, the panopticon is arbitrarily good for those it serves.
What does panopticon mean?
A room for the exhibition of novelties.
What part of speech is panopticon?
panopticon is commonly used as noun.