Definition of "officialese" [officialese]

• Language characteristic of official documents or statements, especially when obscure, pretentiously wordy, or excessively formal. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Very interesting, it does sort of take your breath away reading the 'officialese', even translated to English … In fairness, Goldarrow couldn't really expect to get paid in full after the scrap prices crashed-I'm sure that just wasn't going to happen."
• "Politicians and civil servants should steer clear of using "officialese" or risk being mocked by the public and media, a parliamentary committee has suggested."
• "In Gowers's revision of Fowlers MEU, there's an article on "officialese," in which Gowers distinguishes between the sort of language to be used in drafting a statute or regulation and the language used to explain things to an inquiring citizen."