bureaucratese

American  

[byoor-uh-kra-teez, -tees, byoo-rok-ruh-] / ˌbyʊər ə kræˈtiz, -ˈtis, byʊˌrɒk rə- /

noun

1. a style of language, used especially by bureaucrats, that is full of circumlocutions, euphemisms, buzzwords, abstractions, etc.

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Etymology

Origin of bureaucratese

bureaucrat + -ese

Example Sentences

It doesn't take a doctorate in bureaucratese to interpret this.

From Salon • Apr. 15, 2025

When Professor Kahn left Ithaca for government posts, he became renowned for those precepts, attacking “the artificial and hyper-legal language that is sometimes known as bureaucratese or gobbledygook.”

From New York Times • Apr. 7, 2023

That’s bureaucratese for “we don’t feel too strongly about this.”

From Washington Post • Apr. 19, 2022

Viewers in the late Soviet era had become accustomed to a heavy lexicon of bureaucratese and boosterism that verged on the absurd.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 9, 2019

The bland bureaucratese of an April 2004 report by the General Accounting Office did not hide harsh conclusions: Overseas missions were draining the guard of its troops, particularly in expert specialties.

From Slate • Sep. 7, 2016