panopticon

From Ancient Greek πᾶν (pân, “all”) + ὀπτικός (optikós, “visible”). Coined by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1791.

panopticon (plural panopticons)

1. A type of prison where all the cells are visible from the center, particularly if it is not possible for those in a cell to know if they are being watched.
   • 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 274:

     He was alive to every creak and dunt, the thinness of the walls, as if the tenement block was a kind of aural panopticon that funnelled every sound to the other residents, let everyone eavesdrop on their business.

2. (figurative, by extension) A place in which people are subject to constant surveillance at totalitarian command.
   • 2013, Maryland v. King (U.S. Supreme Court No. 12–207), Justice Scalia dissenting:

     Perhaps the construction of such a genetic panopticon is wise. But I doubt that the proud men who wrote the charter of our liberties would have been so eager to open their mouths for royal inspection.

3. A room for the exhibition of novelties.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:panopticon.