This week’s theme
Words for prisons

This week’s words
bridewell
gulag
calaboose
panopticon
lob's pound

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(pan-OP-ti-kon, puh-NAHP-ti-kahn)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A circular prison with a watchtower in the center so that any inmate can be observed from a single point.
2. A place marked by constant surveillance.

ETYMOLOGY:

The design of such a prison was proposed by the utilitarian and philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1787. From Greek pan (all) + optikon (sight, seeing). Earliest documented use: 1787.

USAGE:

“And the radical circular plan has yielded a kind of benevolent parental panopticon, allowing the couple to see whose rooms are lit and determine whether their independent teenagers are home for the night.”
Sam Cochran; Gear Shift; Architectural Digest (Los Angeles, California); Jan 2023.

See more usage examples of panopticon in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: