"panopticon" meaning in English

See panopticon in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: panopticons [plural]
Etymology: From Ancient Greek πᾶν (pân, “all”) + ὀπτικός (optikós, “visible”). Coined by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1787. Etymology templates: {{der|en|grc|πᾶν|t=all}} Ancient Greek πᾶν (pân, “all”), {{m|grc|ὀπτικός|t=visible}} ὀπτικός (optikós, “visible”), {{coin|en|Jeremy Bentham|in=1787|nat=English|occ=philosopher}} Coined by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1787 Head templates: {{en-noun}} panopticon (plural panopticons)
  1. 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. Categories (topical): Prison Translations (type of prison): panòptic [masculine] (Catalan), 圓形監獄 (Chinese Mandarin), 圆形监狱 (yuánxíng jiānyù) (Chinese Mandarin), panoptikon (Finnish), panoptique [masculine] (French), panopticon [masculine] (French), Panoptikum [neuter] (German), πανοπτικό (panoptikó) [neuter] (Greek), panottico (Italian), パノプティコン (panoputikon) (Japanese), panoptikon [masculine] (Polish), panóptico [masculine] (Portuguese), пано́птикум (panóptikum) [masculine] (Russian), panóptico [masculine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-panopticon-en-noun-ip9iZzT3 Disambiguation of Prison: 39 31 30 Categories (other): English entries with topic categories using raw markup Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 41 21 37 Disambiguation of 'type of prison': 100 0 0
  2. (figurative, by extension) A place in which people are subject to constant surveillance at totalitarian command. Tags: broadly, figuratively
    Sense id: en-panopticon-en-noun-tQovKsEY Categories (other): English entries with topic categories using raw markup Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 41 21 37
  3. A room for the exhibition of novelties. Categories (topical): Rooms Translations (room for the exhibition of novelties): паноптикум (panoptikum) [masculine] (Bulgarian), panoptikon (Finnish), Panoptikum [neuter] (German), パノプティコン (panoputikon) (Japanese), panoptikum [neuter] (Polish), пано́птикум (panóptikum) [masculine] (Russian)
    Sense id: en-panopticon-en-noun-Dm5iX~r5 Disambiguation of Rooms: 31 16 53 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 8 55 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 41 21 37 Disambiguation of 'room for the exhibition of novelties': 2 0 98

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for panopticon meaning in English (7.7kB)

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  "etymology_text": "From Ancient Greek πᾶν (pân, “all”) + ὀπτικός (optikós, “visible”). Coined by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1787.",
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          "text": "1787 Jeremy Bentham: Panopticon: or, the inspection-house.\nPanopticon: or, the inspection-house. Containing the idea of a new principle of construction applicable to any sort of establishment, in which Persons of any Description are to be kept under inspection. And in particular to: penitentiary-houses, poor-houses, prisons, manufactories, houses of industry, mad-houses, work-houses, hospitals, and schools. . .\nNow as to safe custody. Upon the Panopticon plan at least, absolute solitude is equally unnecessary to this purpose. Towards effecting an escape, what can two or three do more than one, confined as they are by iron grates while they are within the prison, and by walls when they are without? and in either case, never out of the eye of an inspector, who is armed and out of reach of attack, and within reach of whatever assistance he can desire? . . .\nI look upon escape out of a Panopticon, I have said so over and over, as an event morally impossible. But suppose it otherwise — how great the additional security which an expedient thus simple would afford!"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 274",
          "text": "He was alive to every creak and dunt, the thinness of the walls, as if the tenement block was a kind of aural panopticon that funnelled every sound to the other residents, let everyone eavesdrop on their business.",
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          "_dis1": "100 0 0",
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          "_dis1": "100 0 0",
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        {
          "_dis1": "100 0 0",
          "code": "el",
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          "sense": "type of prison",
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          "text": "Perhaps the construction of such a genetic panopticon is wise. But I doubt that the proud men who wrote the charter of our liberties would have been so eager to open their mouths for royal inspection."
        }
      ],
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        "A place in which people are subject to constant surveillance at totalitarian command."
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        "(figurative, by extension) A place in which people are subject to constant surveillance at totalitarian command."
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      "glosses": [
        "A room for the exhibition of novelties."
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          "_dis1": "2 0 98",
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          "word": "пано́птикум"
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  "wikipedia": [
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  "word": "panopticon"
}
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          "text": "1787 Jeremy Bentham: Panopticon: or, the inspection-house.\nPanopticon: or, the inspection-house. Containing the idea of a new principle of construction applicable to any sort of establishment, in which Persons of any Description are to be kept under inspection. And in particular to: penitentiary-houses, poor-houses, prisons, manufactories, houses of industry, mad-houses, work-houses, hospitals, and schools. . .\nNow as to safe custody. Upon the Panopticon plan at least, absolute solitude is equally unnecessary to this purpose. Towards effecting an escape, what can two or three do more than one, confined as they are by iron grates while they are within the prison, and by walls when they are without? and in either case, never out of the eye of an inspector, who is armed and out of reach of attack, and within reach of whatever assistance he can desire? . . .\nI look upon escape out of a Panopticon, I have said so over and over, as an event morally impossible. But suppose it otherwise — how great the additional security which an expedient thus simple would afford!"
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        "(figurative, by extension) A place in which people are subject to constant surveillance at totalitarian command."
      ],
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        "figuratively"
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    },
    {
      "glosses": [
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      "word": "panòptic"
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      "sense": "type of prison",
      "word": "圓形監獄"
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      "sense": "type of prison",
      "word": "圆形监狱"
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      "sense": "type of prison",
      "word": "panoptikon"
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      "lang": "French",
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      "tags": [
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      "word": "panoptique"
    },
    {
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      "tags": [
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      "word": "panopticon"
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    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "type of prison",
      "tags": [
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      "word": "Panoptikum"
    },
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      "code": "el",
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      "roman": "panoptikó",
      "sense": "type of prison",
      "tags": [
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      "code": "it",
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      "sense": "type of prison",
      "word": "panottico"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "panoputikon",
      "sense": "type of prison",
      "word": "パノプティコン"
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      "sense": "type of prison",
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      "word": "panoptikon"
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      "tags": [
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      "word": "panóptico"
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      "roman": "panóptikum",
      "sense": "type of prison",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "пано́птикум"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
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      "sense": "type of prison",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "panóptico"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "panoptikum",
      "sense": "room for the exhibition of novelties",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "паноптикум"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "room for the exhibition of novelties",
      "word": "panoptikon"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "room for the exhibition of novelties",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
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      "word": "Panoptikum"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "panoputikon",
      "sense": "room for the exhibition of novelties",
      "word": "パノプティコン"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "room for the exhibition of novelties",
      "tags": [
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      "word": "panoptikum"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "panóptikum",
      "sense": "room for the exhibition of novelties",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "пано́птикум"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "panopticon"
  ],
  "word": "panopticon"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.