panopticon

noun

pan·​op·​ti·​con pə-ˈnäp-ti-ˌkän 

pa-

plural panopticons

1

: an optical instrument combining the telescope and microscope

2

: a circular prison built with cells arranged radially so that a guard at a central position can see all the prisoners

Examples of panopticon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Self-awareness—the kind cultivated by the digital panopticon and a consumerist culture that constantly directs our attention toward ourselves and our choices—tells us that there is something shameful about the epic scale. —Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 24 May 2025

Foucault articulated the judicial and penal shifts from public punishment to private regulation, drawing particular attention to Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon, an architectural concretization of the unseen but ever-present authority of the state. —Sarah C. Schaefer, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2025

If you were tasked with building a panopticon, your design might look a lot like the information stores of the U.S. federal government—a collection of large, complex agencies, each making use of enormous volumes of data provided by or collected from citizens. —Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 27 Apr. 2025

The popular 18th century-era panopticon design, for example, emphasized surveillance and control, pointing all prison cells towards a central rotunda from where they could be easily observed. —Abdallah Fayyad, Vox, 7 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1742, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for panopticon

• agamemnon
• automaton
• diencephalon
• phenomenon
• aileron
• antiphon
• autobahn
• carillon
• castellan
• celadon
• cephalon
• chitosan