panopticon

Pronunciation: /pəˈnɑptɪˌkɑn/

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun an area where everything is visible
  2. noun a circular prison with cells distributed around a central surveillance station; proposed by Jeremy Bentham in 1791

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πᾶν (pân, “all”) + ὀπτικός (optikós, “visible”). Coined by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1787.

In classic literature

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
area
Narrower (hyponyms)
showroom

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading

Nice save! Solidify it with review →