Associations to the word «Panopticon»

Wiktionary

PANOPTICON, noun. A type of prison designed by philosopher Jeremy Bentham wherein all the cells are visible from the center of the building. It engenders the feeling that someone is watching you, even though you know the contrary.
PANOPTICON, noun. A room for the exhibition of novelties.

Dictionary definition

PANOPTICON, noun. An area where everything is visible.
PANOPTICON, noun. A circular prison with cells distributed around a central surveillance station; proposed by Jeremy Bentham in 1791.

Wise words

Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.
Nathaniel Hawthorne