Nearby Words

legalese

[lee-guh-leez, -lees] Origin

le·gal·ese

[lee-guh-leez, -lees]
noun
language containing an excessive amount of legal terminology or of legal jargon.

Origin:
1910–15; legal + -ese
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Legalese is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
Collins
World English Dictionary
legalese (ˌliːɡəˈliːz)
 
n
the conventional language in which legal documents, etc, are written

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

legalese
"the language of legal documents," 1914, from legal + language name ending -ese.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary

legalese definition


Dense, pedantic verbiage in a language description, product specification, or interface standard; text that seems designed to obfuscate and requires a language lawyer to parse it. Though hackers are not afraid of high information density and complexity in language (indeed, they rather enjoy both), they share a deep and abiding loathing for legalese; they associate it with deception, suits, and situations in which hackers generally get the short end of the stick.

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © Denis Howe 2010 http://foldoc.org
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