Standard Lemma guide

journalese

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌd͡ʒɜː.nəˈliːz/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: jûrʹnəl
  • General-American: /ˌd͡ʒɝ.nəˈliz/
  • CMU ARPABET: JH ER2 N AH0 L IY1 Z Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: newspaperese

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the style in which newspapers are written

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: expressive style, style

Narrower terms: sensationalism, luridness

History

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.

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 新聞文體 /新闻文体 (xīnwén wéntǐ) — style of writing used in some newspapers and magazines
  • German: Zeitungsstil — style of writing used in some newspapers and magazines
  • German: Jargon der Journalisten — style of writing used in some newspapers and magazines
  • Hungarian: sajtónyelv — style of writing used in some newspapers and magazines
  • Hungarian: zsurnalizmus — style of writing used in some newspapers and magazines
  • Polish: żargon dziennikarski — style of writing used in some newspapers and magazines
  • Portuguese: jornalês — style of writing used in some newspapers and magazines