Formalese

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The style of language used in formal contexts. uncountable

    "In the intricate formalese that marked relations between friends of the time, Mr. Washburn told Miss Hyde of his appreciation for a previous letter of hers and remarked on how it had buoyed up his spirit."

Example

More examples

"In the intricate formalese that marked relations between friends of the time, Mr. Washburn told Miss Hyde of his appreciation for a previous letter of hers and remarked on how it had buoyed up his spirit."

Etymology

From formal + -ese.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.