legalese

See also: legal-ese

English

Etymology

From 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.
   • 1937 October 9, Smith's Weekly, Sydney, page 12, column 1:

     It is also his considered opinion that a condition precedent to any legislative action is that those best qualified to pronounce on the merits of a popular demand examine it in all its aspects. That is good Menzian legalese, as pompous as parody permits.

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