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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.


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Word History and Origins

Origin of Johnsonese1

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

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

When he wrote for publication he did his sentences out of English into Johnsonese.

But Johnson seems to have written Johnsonese from his cradle.

What sort of an appearance would they present when furnished in a blend of Johnsonese and his own stheticism?

Sebastian, for his part, might have found some difficulty in translating into Johnsonese the twisted asceticism of Stuart Heron.

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