dictionaryese

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English

WOTD – 15 October 2023

Alternative forms

Etymology

From dictionary +‎ -ese (suffix denoting jargon used in a particular context).

Pronunciation

Noun

dictionaryese (uncountable)

  1. (informal) The style of language used in dictionary definitions, characterized by dry, straightforward, and occasionally awkward phrasing.
    Synonym: lexicographese
    • 1962, D. F. S. Scott, “Langenscheidts Handwörterbuch Deutsch–Englisch. Langenscheidt’s Concise Dictionary German–English. (Second Edition, Berlin 1960; pp. 672; published in England by Methuen; 17s. 6d.) ”, in The Durham University Journal‎, volume LIV (New Series, volume XXIII), Durham, County Durham: Senate of the University of Durham, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-06-29, page 86:
      For a concise dictionary the extent of the German vocabulary dealt with is commendable and fairly searching spot-checks in many fields have shown no serious gaps, but an English reviewer must be forgiven for commenting on the ‘dictionaryese’ of some of the English renderings.
    • 1975, Jerry A[lan] Fodor, “The Structure of the Internal Code: Some Linguistic Evidence”, in The Language of Thought, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell Company, →ISBN, page 127:
      'Cause to die' is immediately recognizable as dictionaryese, which is to say that dictionaries do not, in general, honor the condition that definitions must be couched in the syntax of surface English.
    • 1981, Justin Wintle, “Introduction”, in Justin Wintle, editor, Makers of Modern Culture, New York, N.Y.: Facts on File, →ISBN, page xvi:
      Such an approach has two immediate advantages: it disposes of the need to present what is not fact as fact; and it goes some way to seeing off the need to employ dictionaryese, the crabbed and clipped prose-style that, in many reference-books, only ossifies its subject-matter.
    • 2003 December 4, YiLing Chen-Josephson, “Word Up”, in Slate‎, New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-22:
      Oxford American’s usage notes are among the best I’ve found: clear, consistent, sensibly prescriptive, and up-to-date (it’s the only dictionary to acknowledge that “nonplussed” is frequently misused to mean “unperturbed”). Its rendering of slang into dictionaryese—“shake one's booty” is defined as “dance energetically”—is a thing of beauty.
    • 2017, Kory Stamper, “Surfboard: On Defining”, in Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, New York, N.Y.: Pantheon Books, →ISBN, page 103:
      If I were defining "hella" without using substitutability, I would probably come up with something long-winded and full of dictionaryese, like "to an excessive degree."
    • 2019 January 14, Robert Carnegie, “Homosexuality is more acceptable to atheists, than theists”, in alt.atheism‎ (Usenet):
      <https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sodomy> runs down to "Sexual intercourse that is not the union of the genital organs of a man and a woman", but in dictionaryese that /could/ mean one specific sexual intercourse that they're choosing not to describe.

Translations

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