legalese

See also: legal-ese

English

Etymology

legal +‎ -ese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: le‧gal‧ese

• Audio (US):

  (file)

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 (fi), lakikieli (also used non-pejoratively)
• French: jargon juridique
• German: Juristenjargon, Juristensprache, Juristendeutsch
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 법률 용어 (beomnyul yong-eo)
• Portuguese: juridiquês (pt)

wording that resembles how lawyers write

• Finnish: kapulakieli (fi)
• German: Papierdeutsch (de), Behördensprache (de), Amtsdeutsch (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: legalês m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}