bafflegab

American  

[baf-uhl-gab] / ˈbæf əlˌgæb /

noun

Slang.

1. confusing or generally unintelligible jargon; gobbledegook.

   an insurance policy written in bafflegab impenetrable to a lay person.

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Other Word Forms

• bafflegabber noun

Etymology

Origin of bafflegab

First recorded in 1950–55; baffle + gab ¹

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

Twitter insisted this was self-serving bafflegab, and also that a judge should make this underhanded deadbeat buy and run their $44 billion baby.

From Washington Post • Oct. 7, 2022

At present, these online documents are written in a form of bafflegab impenetrable to anyone lacking a degree in law or information science, or both.

From Washington Post • Mar. 19, 2019

I applaud any effort to end financial bafflegab, as the late Sylvia Porter used to call it.

From Time • Jan. 10, 2013

The idea of Humphrey putting Lester Maddox or Lurleen Wallace as close to the presidency as the proverbial heartbeat is, of course, bafflegab, and Sorensen himself later backed away a bit from his initial assertion.

From Time Magazine Archive

A sort of mini-thesaurus of bafflegab, it consists of a three-column list of 30 overused but appropriately portentous words.

From Time Magazine Archive