legalese

American  

[lee-guh-leez, -lees] / ˌli gəˈliz, -ˈlis /

noun

1. language containing an excessive amount of legal terminology or of legal jargon.

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legalese British  

/ ˌliːɡəˈliːz /

noun

1. the conventional language in which legal documents, etc, are written

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Etymology

Origin of legalese

First recorded in 1910–15; legal + -ese

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

legalese

“You’re such a great acting partner, and had a great time on that show,” Fox said as he spoke from stage in a wheelchair, adding he was happy to no longer speak in legalese.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

Using legalese, it said tersely that the administration was “unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge” to a district judge’s injunction that blocked the rules.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

Those rules have to be drafted in a formal, one-size-fits-all fashion, resulting in pages and pages of legalese.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026

The term “shadow docket” itself sounds like wonky legalese, but in practice it’s quite simple.

From Salon ● Apr. 22, 2026

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