See bureaucratese in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
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"_dis": "88 12",
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"text": "Help you fill out the application for food stamps and other government programs, break down the discouraging bureaucratese.",
"type": "quote"
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],
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"A style of language, used by bureaucrats, that involves jargon or euphemism to the detriment of broader understanding."
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"id": "en-bureaucratese-en-noun-1MU6O5pH",
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"(informal, derogatory) A style of language, used by bureaucrats, that involves jargon or euphemism to the detriment of broader understanding."
],
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"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "kancelarski stil",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "канцеларски стил"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "guānqiāng",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"word": "官腔"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"word": "(viranomaisten) kapulakieli"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "langue de bois"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
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"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Bürokratensprache"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Behördensprache"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Verwaltungsjargon"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"note": "for German more often",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Amtsdeutsch"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Behördendeutsch"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"neuter"
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"word": "Beamtendeutsch"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "it",
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"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"word": "burocratese"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "kanceljarít",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "канцеляри́т"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
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},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "fi",
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"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"word": "kapulakieli"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "fr",
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"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "baratin"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "fr",
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"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "charabia"
},
{
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"tags": [
"feminine"
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"word": "Behördensprache"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"word": "Kanzleistil"
},
{
"_dis1": "93 7",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"note": "for German more often",
"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
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"_dis1": "93 7",
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]
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54,
67
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],
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}
],
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"Wordy, ostentatious talk or writing that resembles bureaucratic writing."
],
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"(informal, derogatory) Wordy, ostentatious talk or writing that resembles bureaucratic writing."
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"_dis1": "0 0",
"word": "officialese"
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"word": "bureaucratese"
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"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations",
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"(informal, derogatory) A style of language, used by bureaucrats, that involves jargon or euphemism to the detriment of broader understanding."
],
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"text": "The company president's annual statement was complete bureaucratese: it was utterly content-free.",
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],
"glosses": [
"Wordy, ostentatious talk or writing that resembles bureaucratic writing."
],
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],
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"(informal, derogatory) Wordy, ostentatious talk or writing that resembles bureaucratic writing."
],
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}
],
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"word": "officialese"
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{
"word": "legalese"
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],
"translations": [
{
"code": "bg",
"lang": "Bulgarian",
"roman": "kancelarski stil",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "канцеларски стил"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "guānqiāng",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"word": "官腔"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"word": "(viranomaisten) kapulakieli"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "langue de bois"
},
{
"code": "de",
"english": "languages in general",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Bürokratensprache"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Behördensprache"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "Verwaltungsjargon"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"note": "for German more often",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Amtsdeutsch"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Behördendeutsch"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Beamtendeutsch"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"word": "burocratese"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "kanceljarít",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "канцеляри́т"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "pejorative term for language typically used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"common-gender"
],
"word": "kanslisvenska"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"word": "kapulakieli"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "baratin"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "charabia"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "Behördensprache"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"word": "Kanzleistil"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"note": "for German more often",
"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Beamtendeutsch"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Amtsdeutsch"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "pejorative term for language resembling that used by bureaucrats",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Papierdeutsch"
}
],
"word": "bureaucratese"
}
Download raw JSONL data for bureaucratese meaning in English (5.8kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-24 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-04-20 using wiktextract (813e02a and ea19a0a). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.