[This word comes from George Orwell’s novel, 1984. It can also be used as a verb—i.e. to render a person invisible–as in the second example.] [The previous mayor of New York] had declared Mr. Sharpton an unperson. So the new mayor’s decision to go the other way — to acknowledge that Al Sharpton, like him or not, is an important force in this town … commanded headlines before anything had even happened. (Clyde Haberman, “Sharpton Loses the Ring But Never the Spotlight,” The New York Times, 01/23/202.)
The media and proxies are on a desperate and often frantic campaign to unperson Peterson by trying to discredit and destroy him. (John Gormley, “Peterson Impresses,” Star-Phoenix, 08/17/2018.)
This word can also be a synonym for nonentity.
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