noun
- The specialized, often complex and jargon-filled language used by federal government agencies and officials.
Usage: informal; often used critically to describe unnecessarily complicated bureaucratic language
Examples
- The tax code is written in such dense federalese that most citizens need a lawyer to understand it.
- The agency's memo was full of federalese, making it nearly impossible for the public to grasp the new policy.
- Critics argue that federalese obscures rather than clarifies government intentions.
- The Plain Language Act was designed to reduce federalese in official government documents.
- Even experienced civil servants sometimes struggle to decode the federalese in interagency communications.