Johnsonese

American  

[jon-suh-neez, -nees] / ˌdʒɒn səˈniz, -ˈnis /

noun

1. a literary style characterized by rhetorically balanced, often pompous phraseology and an excessively Latinate vocabulary: so called from the style of writing practiced by Samuel Johnson.

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Etymology

Origin of Johnsonese

First recorded in 1835–45; (Samuel) Johnson + -ese

Example Sentences

Only when he came to answering attacks on NRA price control features and monopolistic tendencies did the General burst into genuine Johnsonese.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then the General's pent-up feelings overflowed in a flood of Johnsonese.

From Time Magazine Archive

Curbing his reckless Johnsonese, he did not say that all his opponents were chiselers, did not claim that NRA was responsible for all recovery to date.

From Time Magazine Archive

The stuffed buckram of Johnsonese had been succeeded by the mincing hifalutin of Mrs. Anne Radcliffe and her like.

From Washington Irving by Boynton, Henry Walcott

One of Mr. Wright's characteristics was his love of talking Johnsonese.

From Memoirs of Sir Wemyss Reid 1842-1885 by Reid, Stuart J. (Stuart Johnson)