Meaning of politicianese | Babel Free

Definitions

Political jargon; the obfuscatory or euphemistic language used by politicians.

uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“In journalese and politicianese every warning is grave, every destruction wanton, every feeling sensibly felt[…]”

“This is fine, of course, but somewhat vague, illusory and politicianese.”

“The statement said the governor will answer only “valid criticisms,” during the campaign. Political Notes doesn’t know what that means in French or Chinese, but in Politicianese it means: “There simply can’t be any valid criticism against our man so we ain’t answering nuttin’.””

““The name is not unfamiliar,” Chance said, “but . . .” He shook his head. Not unfamiliar. You gotta love it when they speak politicianese.”

“Listening to their meetings is almost never pleasant: it generates boredom and sleepiness. Their language is contorted and ambiguous: it’s the so-called “politicianese”.[…]This is how politicianese (politichese in Italian) came about, almost a language in itself, made from indirect allusions, reassuring vagueness, technicalities difficult to understand....”

“He later defended this kind of work: ‘A slogan, a poster with just a few words (hard words) is worth a thousand polished, hypocritical messages in politicianese’ (Bossi, in Iacopini and Bianchi 1994: vii).”

“She might speak fluent politicianese, but she never talked down to her correspondents.”

CEFR level