Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

security theater

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.29 in modern English

Syllables: se-cu-ri-ty the-ater
IPA

23

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

5

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Security measures which are intended to, or do, provide a feeling or illusion of improved security, while doing little or nothing to actually improve security.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"But some countermeasures provide the feeling of security instead of the reality. These are nothing more than security theater."
"I do care about security. I survived the attack on the World Trade Center and I believe 9/11 was allowed to occur through a failure of intelligence. I thank TSA agents for searching me: applause for security theater."
"[Bruce] Schneier agrees that Covid-19 has ushered in an era of hygiene theatre. “Like security theatre,” he says, “hygiene theatre comes from bad risk analysis – really, from ignorance.”"

Etymology

Coined by American computer scientist Bruce Schneier in 2003.

Usage

Uncountable

Inflected Forms

security theatre (alternative)

Frequently Paired Words

hygiene theater

Questions

What does security theater mean?: Security measures which are intended to, or do, provide a feeling or illusion of improved security, while doing little or nothing to actually improve security.
Where does security theater come from?: Coined by American computer scientist Bruce Schneier in 2003.

How to pronounce security theater

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