legalese
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of legalese
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Securities filings are packed with repetitive legalese few will read, while the juicy bits in the footnotes require some expertise to understand.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
More than that, its charter, laid out in formal legalese, is sheer fantasy.
From Slate • Jan. 28, 2026
By design, the details of how "freedom cities" would be established are laden with legalese like "federal enclaves with special economic and jurisdictional zones" or "interstate compacts."
From Salon • Mar. 17, 2025
A moment of levity came as Justice Mechan decided they would strike the convoluted word "eleemosynary" - used here as legalese for charitable - from the instructions.
From BBC • May 21, 2024
That’s why guidelines on how to avoid legalese and other turbid professional styles call for using first- and second-person pronouns, inverting passives into actives, and letting verbs be verbs rather than zombie nouns.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
