Unperson

noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person who has been stripped of rights, identity, or humanity; to dehumanize.

    "With his identity stolen, he became an unperson, unable to prove his existence to the government."

  2. 2
    a person regarded as nonexistent and having no rights; a person whose existence is systematically ignored (especially for ideological or political reasons) wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To strip (a person) of rights, identity, or humanity. transitive

    "Unhappily, shortcomings here on the part of even a few schools provide a handle for the type of irresponsible generalization that recently labeled the lay professor on the Catholic campus "unwanted, unpaid, uncared for and unpersoned.""

Etymology

Etymology 1

From un- + person. Coined by George Orwell in 1949 as part of the Newspeak in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where it refers to a person who has been executed or has fallen out of favor; whose entire history has been erased.

Etymology 2

From un- + person. Coined by George Orwell in 1949 as part of the Newspeak in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where it refers to a person who has been executed or has fallen out of favor; whose entire history has been erased.

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