as in legalese
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Recent Examples of psychobabble
This is the modernist quest reduced to Silicon Valley psychobabble.
—
Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2022
The show is savvy enough to sense how easily human ache can fall prey to the manipulative language of certain practitioners, and how alluring psychobabble can be, in the right context.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2021
To the uninitiated, this might read like so much innocuous psychobabble.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 8 Nov. 2020
The fetishistic horse business is merely a weird aesthetic choice that's explained away with a bit of perfunctory psychobabble.
—Katie Walsh, latimes.com, 2 May 2018
Even taking the Super Bowl hangover psychobabble into account, this looks more like a mechanical problem than a mental one — for now.
—Dan Wolken, USA TODAY, 19 Oct. 2017
Such speculation makes psychobiography sound like little more than psychobabble.
—Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 2 June 2017
As Elgafink, Bruiser’s sympathetic shrink, Kellie Spill gooses psychiatry and parodies psychobabble.
—Orange County Register, 9 Feb. 2017
So is the very way in which the teachers address one another, a psychobabble presumably born of workshops on treating students with sensitivity.
—Ben Brantley, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2016
Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2022
The show is savvy enough to sense how easily human ache can fall prey to the manipulative language of certain practitioners, and how alluring psychobabble can be, in the right context.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2021
To the uninitiated, this might read like so much innocuous psychobabble.
—Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 8 Nov. 2020
The fetishistic horse business is merely a weird aesthetic choice that's explained away with a bit of perfunctory psychobabble.
—Katie Walsh, latimes.com, 2 May 2018
Even taking the Super Bowl hangover psychobabble into account, this looks more like a mechanical problem than a mental one — for now.
—Dan Wolken, USA TODAY, 19 Oct. 2017
Such speculation makes psychobiography sound like little more than psychobabble.
—Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 2 June 2017
As Elgafink, Bruiser’s sympathetic shrink, Kellie Spill gooses psychiatry and parodies psychobabble.
—Orange County Register, 9 Feb. 2017
So is the very way in which the teachers address one another, a psychobabble presumably born of workshops on treating students with sensitivity.
—Ben Brantley, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for psychobabble
Noun
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The legalese can be daunting, and insurance companies have a team of lawyers at their disposal.Chris Gallagher, USA TODAY, 18 Apr. 2024
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To help parse the legalese, Lex Machina has developed a set of rules—a sort of legal grammar for the machine.IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 30 Oct. 2013
Noun
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Details of new initiatives were bogged down by mind-numbing bureaucratese.Sharon Grigsby, Dallas News, 11 Apr. 2023
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The most striking aspect of Putin’s failure to accept responsibility for the Kursk disaster was his retreat into bureaucratese.Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2020
Noun
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Apologies to the Lois Lane stans out there, but Adams is mostly on hand in these movies to deliver stern gobbledygook (something about isotopes?) and stare at Henry Cavill’s cheekbones.Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024
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So, of course, their stony-eyed dedication to taking this inspirational gobbledygook seriously has gone viral.Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Simplification is about presenting information in a manner that best resonates with an audience and putting aside technobabble that may be confusing.Steve Durbin, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2024
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That’s because the plot is a lumpy stew of familiar elements, given minimal narrative clarity despite the reams of expository technobabble spouted by Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Paradox.David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 July 2024
Noun
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In addition to all that work, Coffin voices the demented gibberish spewed by the Minions, the bright yellow creatures who work alongside Gru. Renaud, who co-helmed the fourth installment with Patrick Delage, says that the French influence was also there from the start.Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 10 July 2024
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For example, at one point the voice suddenly sped up and spewed gibberish.Will Knight, WIRED, 11 Sep. 2024
Noun
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Driving the news: The statement was published only in English on the Facebook page of the Israeli Prime Minister's Office — potentially another case of double-talk by Netanyahu.Barak Ravid, Axios, 27 Sep. 2024
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The GOP Senate candidate in Arizona, whose brand is a combative, never-back-down MAGA politics, has adopted a position on the issue that is nearly indistinguishable from that of double-talking Democrats.Rich Lowry, National Review, 14 Apr. 2024
Noun
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Is there a company that prides itself on an absence of rigmarole?Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 22 July 2024
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Last season’s nail-biting seven-game battle was famously known as the I-80 series because both teams opted for the approximately 90-minute (depending on traffic) bus ride rather than the rigmarole of a short flight.Joe Rubin, Sacramento Bee, 16 Apr. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near psychobabble
Cite this Entry
“Psychobabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/psychobabble. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.
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