more equal
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Coined by George Orwell in 1945; see Animal Farm quotation below.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Adjective
[edit]more equal (comparative form only)
- (idiomatic, ironic) Ostensibly equal, but more privileged in reality.
- 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
- All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
- 2006, Marie-Bénédicte Dembour, Who Believes in Human Rights?, p. 122
- ... men who supposedly enjoyed equality and freedom, but in fact did not. The rich more equal than the poor at Strasbourg? ... is there a gap between what human rights say they do and what they actually do?
- 2007, Mark Knoller, President Bush Rides In Style, CBS News
- All the world leaders at the G-8 Summit are supposed to be equal in stature. But in some ways, President George W. Bush is more equal than others.
- 2007, Neil Clark, Monday May 21, 2007, The Guardian, If the world is his oyster (discussing Bernard Kouchner)
- He clearly believes some states are more equal than others.