governmentesen.
/ˌɡʌvnm(ə)nˈtiːz/, /ˌɡʌvəm(ə)nˈtiːz/, U.S. /ˌɡəvər(n)mənˈtiz/ Language held to be characteristic of government departments; esp. legalistic, obscure, or euphemistic language; government jargon. Cf. officialese n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > copiousness > [noun] > prolixity
prolixityc1395
tediouste?a1412
diffusiona1413
diffuseness1474
tediousness?a1475
largeness1547
longness1587
prolixness?1590
length1597
longanimity1607
tediositya1625
wire-drawing1640
longinquity1641
long-windedness1648
diffusivenessa1719
sprawling1822
longsomeness1834
ramblingness1835
lengthsomeness1849
bagginess1860
lengthiness1863
governmentese1907
1907 M. Urquhart Wheel xviii. 163 Dominick spoke of other men..in whose society were discussed other matters than national property, and in other tongues than Governmentese.
1942 Newspaper World 3 Oct. 14/2 A statement couched in Government-ese English concerning building-board of Canadian and U.S.A. origin.
1958 Employm. Security Rev. Feb. 11/2 We had adopted ‘governmentese’ to such an extent that the language used in our decisions was beyond the grasp of the average reader.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 31 Jan. 9/1 In best governmentese it said that the plan will ‘confirm and reinforce the department's sensitivity to consumer rights and interests as they impact upon the department’.
1997 High Country News 22 Dec. 17/1 The miner can also ‘patent’—governmentese for ‘buy’—the land for that bargain price.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1907