jargon
jargon Lexical Profile
jargon Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand.
"The legal contract was filled with dense jargon that required a lawyer to interpret."
Unintelligible, pretentious, or meaningless talk or writing; gibberish.
"Critics dismissed the manifesto as pretentious academic jargon lacking any real substance."
A simplified form of speech, composed of elements from two or more languages, used for basic communication between speakers with no common language; a pidgin.
"Traders along the coast developed a commercial jargon to conduct business across linguistic barriers."
Word Nuance & Usage
'Jargon' refers to technical vocabulary shared by a specific profession (often viewed as opaque to outsiders), whereas 'slang' is informal vocabulary used for social identity, and 'argot' or 'cant' refers to secret language used to exclude outsiders.
• Rhymes for jargon
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed into Middle English from Old French 'jargon', originally meaning the twittering or chattering of birds, and later extended to unintelligible human speech.