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Johnsonese. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
Johnsonese, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
Johnsonese in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
Johnsonese you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Johnson + -ese
Proper noun
Johnsonese
- The literary style of Dr. Samuel Johnson; an inflated, stilted, or pompous style, affecting classical words.
- Hypernym: inkhornism
1843, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Madame D'Arblay”, in Edinburgh Review:It is a sort of broken Johnsonese, a barbarous patois, bearing the same relation to the language of Rasselas which the gibberish of the negroes of Jamaica bears to the English of the House of Lords
References
“Johnsonese”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.