legalese

See also: legal-ese

English

Etymology

legal +‎ -ese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: le‧gal‧ese
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈliː.ɡə.liːz/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈli.ɡə.liz/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈliː.ɡə.liːz/, [ˈlɪi.ɡə.lɪiz]

Noun

legalese (uncountable)

1. (informal, derogatory) Technical jargon common in the legal profession, the argot of lawyers.
2. (informal, derogatory) Wordy, ostentatious talk or writing that resembles legal writing, especially when confusing to laypeople; bureaucratese; officialese.

Translations

technical talk of the legal profession

• Finnish: lakimiesten kapulakieli, kapulakieli (fi), lakikieli (also used non-pejoratively)
• French: jargon juridique m
• German: Juristenjargon m, Juristensprache f
• Korean: 법률 용어 (beomnyul yong'eo)
• Portuguese: juridiquês (pt) m

wording that resembles how lawyers write — see also bureaucratese

• Portuguese: legalês m