doublethink

Definition

The holding of two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously and accepting both of them as true or correct, without acknowledging the contradiction.

Etymology

From double + think. Coined by George Orwell in 1949 as part of the Newspeak in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Example Sentences

• "The stars can be near or distant, according as we need them. Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? Have you forgotten doublethink?"
• "Any effort by the United States to halt these creeping advances of Communist imperialism became, by the same mad process of double-think, the only kind of "intervention" there ever could be."
• "Or does the hypocrisy and doublethink go beyond a loathing of the human body and an acceptance of violence to a very practical fear that such a club in a predominantly middle-class Caucasian neighborhood will drive down property values?"