journalese
/ˌd͡ʒɝ.nəˈliz/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.10 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A style of writing used in some newspapers and magazines, characterized by cliché, hyperbolic language, use of some vocabulary items that are mostly confined to this genre, and clipped syntax.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "We write journalese out of habit, sometimes from misguided training, and to sound urgent, authoritative and, well, journalistic. But it doesn't do any of that."
- "The veteran newspaper columnist, Keith Waterhouse, identifies two versions of this journalese. The first is officialese. It can be found everywhere […] The second version, which he calls tabloidese, is characterised by bolted-together monosyllables and sensationalism. Both types of journalese have this in common: people don't speak like that."
Etymology
Etymology tree English journal Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-iskbor. Late Latin -iscus ▲ Vulgar Latin -iscus Latin -ēnsis Old French -eisbor. Middle English -eys English -ese English journalese From journal + -ese.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌd͡ʒɝ.nəˈliz/
- British English: /ˌd͡ʒɜː.nəˈliːz/