Academese

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A style of writing characterized by complex and obscure language often used in scholarly works; language that tends to be jargon-heavy and difficult for general readers to understand; formal or pretentious academic expression that may obscure meaning rather than clarify
2. Scholarly communication marked by unnecessarily complicated vocabulary and convoluted sentence structures; specialized terminology and elaborate phrasing that can make texts inaccessible; an overly formal and technical mode of explanation typical of academic writing
3. A manner of presenting ideas in an intricate and often pompous style prevalent in academic contexts; use of elaborate jargon and dense prose that can hinder clear comprehension; an intellectual writing approach that favors complexity over simplicity for conveying knowledge

Etymology: Academe, the word "academese" is built on, goes back to Akadēmos, the hero of Plato's Academy in Athens, whose name became the label for the grove where Plato taught philosophy around 387 BC. Scholars in Renaissance Italy later revived the name for their own learned societies, and English borrowed the resulting word "academe" in the sense of the academic world as a whole. "Academese" then adds the suffix "-ese," which comes from the Latin "-ēnsis" by way of Old French and originally marked a nationality or language, as in "Chinese" or "Portuguese." So "academese" means, literally, the language of academe. The suffix was stretched to cover jargon and dialect generally, which is why it can describe the impenetrable prose of a scholarly journal as readily as a national tongue. The attached sense of pompous obscurity grew out of that jargon, not out of the suffix itself.

Synonyms: academic jargon, scholarly language, academic language

Antonyms: plain language, colloquial language