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bafflegab

/ˈbæfəlˌgæb/
IPA guide

Bafflegab is circuitous, enigmatic, abstruse, prolix, and diffuse….and if you found that sentence difficult to understand, you'll see what this word means. Call something bafflegab when it has a lot of confusing, difficult-to-understand jargon.

The clue to the word's meaning is in its name. It's a combination of baffle, "to confuse," and gab, "talk." Bafflegab isn't just badly worded: It likely has a lot of long words that few people would understand, especially when short, easy-to-understand words could be just as effective. People often use bafflegab to avoid giving a straight answer, or to sound important and knowledgeable. Look for bafflegab in political speeches, government documents, and legal contracts.

Definitions of bafflegab
  1. noun
    confusing, wordy language, especially speech or writing that uses many specialized technical terms unnecessarily
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