legalese
7
9.9
- noun
- /ˌliːɡəˈliːz/
- Literature
- The contract was filled with legalese, making it hard for me to understand my rights.
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Watch on YouTubeThey'll they'll tell you the non legalese way of of thinking about these things.
- They'll they'll tell you the non legalese way of of thinking about these things.
- And I have spoken to it until I'm up to here because it was stuck in legalese.
Examples
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Many people find the legalese in court documents to be confusing and difficult to read.
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Special emphasis was placed on using a "plain English" style of writing, avoiding "legalese" wherever possible to promote understanding.
Academic text (1993) -
These terms might sound like fancy legalese for now, but they will make sense very soon.
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The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
Blog text (32) -
I know the legalese can be a bit complicated, Liam.
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"I thumbed through the papers, which were full of legalese, then looked up at her.
Fiction book (2000) -
A main point, and one that is agreed upon, is the elimination of legalese in the system.
Academic text (1995) -
Interestingly, a lot of legalese has nothing to do with the law but is simply pretentious and difficult to follow.
Academic text (2011) -
The contents can be written in-house, perhaps with staff doing a first draft and translating legalese into everyday language.
Academic text (1997) -
The documents to accomplish this task required 551 pages of legalese and financial mumbo-jumbo.
Blog text (10)
Synonyms
1
9.7
Formal, hard to understand language that government officials use
Antonyms
How Technical
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Legalese comes from legal ('law') and the ending -ese, which means 'language or style', just like in Chinese or Portuguese. So legalese is the 'language' of lawyers, a formal and often hard to understand style used in legal documents.