nonperson
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun: A person who is officially ignored or treated as if they do not exist, especially for political or ideological reasons. This involves denying their rights, their contributions, and their very presence in society or official records.
Usage
The term "nonperson" is used to describe an individual who has been erased from official acknowledgment. It is a powerful and critical term, often found in discussions of totalitarian regimes, historical revisionism, or severe social ostracism. * The historian noted that the fallen leader had been made a nonperson, his image removed from all state photographs. * In the novel, dissenting artists risk being declared nonpersons and vanishing from public memory.
Advanced Usage
- Conceptual Use: The term can be used more broadly to critique any systematic effort to silence or erase individuals from a narrative.
- The contributions of many women scientists were historically overlooked, rendering them virtual nonpersons in the annals of science.
Variants and Related Words
- Unperson: A near-identical synonym, famously used in George Orwell's novel . It carries the same meaning of a person who has been vaporized from all records and memory.
- Persona non grata: A Latin term used in diplomacy for a person who is no longer welcome in a country. While related as a form of official rejection, it does not imply the complete erasure of existence denoted by "nonperson."
Synonyms
- Unperson
- Non-entity (in a social/political sense)
- Pariah (focuses more on being an outcast than on being erased)
Related Idioms and Phrases
- To be airbrushed from history: An idiom describing the deliberate removal of a person from historical accounts, closely related to the concept of becoming a nonperson.
- After the coup, the former general was airbrushed from history, becoming a nonperson overnight.
Noun
- a person regarded as nonexistent and having no rights; a person whose existence is systematically ignored (especially for ideological or political reasons)
- the former senator is treated as a nonperson by this administration
- George Orwell predicted that political dissidents would be treated as unpersons