Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The specialized vocabulary of the legal profession, especially when considered to be complex or abstruse.
Wiktionary
- n. The technical talk of the legal profession, the argot of lawyers.
- n. Wording that resembles how a lawyer writes, especially such that is confusing to the layperson.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A style of writing or speaking heavily emphasizing the abstruse technical vocabulary of the law, to the point where a speech or document may be incomprehensible to non-specialists.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a style that uses the abstruse technical vocabulary of the law
Etymologies
- legal + -ese (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Reading a 5,000 word contract printed in minuscule print, full of legalese, is one thing, understanding it is a totally different thing.”
“There are millions of Americans who are not proficient at reading and comprehension, much less reading and understanding any contract that is written in legalese … ….”
“The actual document reads like Japanese stereo instructions and is written in legalese, a form that by design keeps all but the most die-hards from understanding it.”
“Indeed, I think law and philology are closely related disciplines and law could learn a lot more from philology (and American legalese is interesting to me as an amateur philologist for a rather unusual reason*).”
“This is a concept called "laches" in legalese; the team was established in 1967, the case brought in 1992, and it had dragged on until now, 2009, for 17 years.”
“While the language of law can reach tremendous heights, legalese is more often painfully, agonizingly dull.”
“I read some of the legalese from the judgement, but mostly his commentary, which I found interesting and informative.”
“I mean, was it, dull ... too wrapped up in legalese and minutia to be enjoyable?”
“To start, let me give you a bit of advice that I give fellow attorneys caught up in legalese - try speaking in plain English.”
“Comments if i may, with my law degree but never practiced, lawyers are frustrated linguists. they think they write well, they don't. they invent words and pretend they were forever in the dictionary. they enjoy pointless recaps and legalese is simply the worst language that ever existed, grammatically and otherwise. and if you happen to voice that opinion they get quite uppity. phew.”
Dru Blood - I believe in the inherent goodness of all beings: I have one thing to say.
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘legalese’.
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INTERP - languages
This is not a scientific list based on unified criteria, the sole aim was to collect as many language names as possible.
The list contains the names of the following artificial langua...Abkhazian, Achinese, Acoli, Adangme, Adyghe, Afar, Afrikaans, Ainu, Akan, Albanian, Amharic, Angika and 8674 more...
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WF - esey
The suffix -ese in action
Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Sudanese, Taiwanese, Congolese, Burmese, Maltese, Nepalese, Sinhalese and 64 more...
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nominative case collection
wine stopper, pyre, roster, hamper, moleskin, elastic, pinnacle, facsimile, nook, plonk, contortionist, dismay and 342 more...
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INTERP - VOCABULARY
The vocabulary of conference interpreting. I commend this list to those who want to know more about the profession and to those who wish to organize their knowledge about the profession. To aspirin...
retour language, A-language, B-language, C-language, relay language, take sy on relay, language booth, booth meeting, mic, mike, mission, freelance interpr... and 2086 more...
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I Don't Get It
Concepts many people just can't understand, no matter how hard they try.
astrophysics, grammar, object-oriented p..., css, culpability, hydrology, anarchism, generosity, legalese, modern art, philosophy, command line inte... and 3 more...
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Banes of My Existence
Ever notice that some people love to make life as miserable for you as possible? It's time to call those people out and stop them from making life unfun, once and for all!
paperwork, taxes, software bugs, spam, car accidents, red tape, laws, morons, greasy restaurants, dryer lint, dialup, statists and 12 more...
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andiralaw's Words
misanthrope, anger, lust, wonder, purple, uvula, furtive, gesticulation, obfuscate, rational, irrational, aequi and 44 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for legalese.
Comments
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