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

See Examples For:

Johnsonese

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

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

Like so many writers of her day, she wrote Johnsonese rather than English.

From The English Church in the Eighteenth Century by Abbey, Charles J. (Charles John)

Johnson and Johnsonese swept heavily over the retreating tide and killed what natural grace and vivacity might have been left in Goldsmith or in Graves.

From Impressions and Comments by Ellis, Havelock