Johnsonese

[ jon-suh-neez, -nees ]

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.

Origin of Johnsonese

1
First recorded in 1835–45; (Samuel) Johnson + -ese

Words Nearby Johnsonese

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Johnsonese in a sentence

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

    Washington Irving | Henry W. Boynton
  • When he wrote for publication he did his sentences out of English into Johnsonese.

    Macaulay's Life of Samuel Johnson | Thomas Babington Macaulay
  • But Johnson seems to have written Johnsonese from his cradle.

    Hours in a Library | Leslie Stephen
  • What sort of an appearance would they present when furnished in a blend of Johnsonese and his own stheticism?

    Twos and Threes | G. B. Stern
  • Sebastian, for his part, might have found some difficulty in translating into Johnsonese the twisted asceticism of Stuart Heron.

    Twos and Threes | G. B. Stern