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

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

Even as Andreeva was winning in Dubai, there were reminders of the troubling aspects of being a young woman, or, frankly, any person, in the panopticon of pro sports. —Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2025

Selling infrastructure to the panopticon was not a safe play, and investors were skittish. —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 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