Doublethink

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The capacity to hold and accept conflicting beliefs or ideas concurrently, often resulting in a cognitive struggle and ideological ambiguity
2. A psychological mechanism that enables individuals to embrace opposing thoughts simultaneously, reflecting a complex relationship with truth and ideology
3. The ability to mentally accept two contradictory beliefs at the same time, which creates a paradoxical state of understanding and acceptance of conflicting ideas

Etymology: George Orwell coined "doublethink" in his 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where it names the Party's central mental discipline: holding two contradictory beliefs at once and believing both. The word is a plain compound of "double" and "think", and its newness is the point of the story, since Orwell built it as part of Newspeak, the regime's deliberately stripped-down language. Within the novel, doublethink is not a casual error but a trained skill. Members are expected to remember a fact, forget it when the Party changes its version, and then recall it again when needed, all without noticing the contradiction. Orwell's invention therefore describes an act of mind as much as a belief, which is why the word has outlived the book as a label for propaganda and self-deception.

Synonyms: cognitive dissonance, contradiction, paradox, duality, ambiguity