as in legalese
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Recent Examples of bureaucratese
Details of new initiatives were bogged down by mind-numbing bureaucratese.
—
Sharon Grigsby, Dallas News, 11 Apr. 2023
The most striking aspect of Putin’s failure to accept responsibility for the Kursk disaster was his retreat into bureaucratese.
—Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2020
Viewers in the late Soviet era had become accustomed to a heavy lexicon of bureaucratese and boosterism that verged on the absurd.
—Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2019
As reporter Alfonso Chardy noted at the time, the facility’s mental health treatment center—known in placid bureaucratese as the Krome Transitional Unit (KTU)—had never before been shown to the media.
—Ken Silverstein, The New Republic, 19 Aug. 2019
In that sense, the beige tone of Mr. Mueller’s report — that desiccating bureaucratese denying the events their juice and soundbite-ability — is something of a radical act in this day and age.
—James Poniewozik, New York Times, 25 June 2019
Graff, a magazine journalist, delights in describing these hideaways (whose existence was first revealed in the 1990s) and the plans for using them; as a result, his narrative sometimes gets bogged down in elaborate, acronym-laden bureaucratese.
—Justin Vogt, New York Times, 16 June 2017
Sharon Grigsby, Dallas News, 11 Apr. 2023
The most striking aspect of Putin’s failure to accept responsibility for the Kursk disaster was his retreat into bureaucratese.
—Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2020
Viewers in the late Soviet era had become accustomed to a heavy lexicon of bureaucratese and boosterism that verged on the absurd.
—Joshua Yaffa, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2019
As reporter Alfonso Chardy noted at the time, the facility’s mental health treatment center—known in placid bureaucratese as the Krome Transitional Unit (KTU)—had never before been shown to the media.
—Ken Silverstein, The New Republic, 19 Aug. 2019
In that sense, the beige tone of Mr. Mueller’s report — that desiccating bureaucratese denying the events their juice and soundbite-ability — is something of a radical act in this day and age.
—James Poniewozik, New York Times, 25 June 2019
Graff, a magazine journalist, delights in describing these hideaways (whose existence was first revealed in the 1990s) and the plans for using them; as a result, his narrative sometimes gets bogged down in elaborate, acronym-laden bureaucratese.
—Justin Vogt, New York Times, 16 June 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bureaucratese
Noun
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The nation needed somebody who could pull the strings, massage egos, calm Congress, walk through the land mines of fickle public opinion, issue legalese when needed, and hold forth in public messages of near biblical elevations when that was needed in its turn.—
arkansasonline.com,
arkansasonline.com,
12 Feb. 2025
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This comedy/romance/drama follows the true story of Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts in an Oscar-winning performance), a struggling single mother who, despite knowing little about legalese, fronts a lawsuit that would become groundbreaking on the environmental front.—
Travis Bean,
Forbes,
11 Jan. 2025
Noun
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This is the modernist quest reduced to Silicon Valley psychobabble.—
Alex Ross,
The New Yorker,
27 Oct. 2022
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The show is savvy enough to sense how easily human ache can fall prey to the manipulative language of certain practitioners, and how alluring psychobabble can be, in the right context.—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
19 Aug. 2021
Noun
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As always, Yellowjackets is full of mind-bending detours, supernatural gobbledygook, and foliage-laden costumes.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
18 Feb. 2025
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Apologies to the Lois Lane stans out there, but Adams is mostly on hand in these movies to deliver stern gobbledygook (something about isotopes?) and stare at Henry Cavill’s cheekbones.—
Matthew Jacobs,
Vulture,
6 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near bureaucratese
Cite this Entry
“Bureaucratese.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bureaucratese. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
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