as in legalese
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Recent Examples of psychobabble
The overly earnest character speaks in a hilariously cringey Gen Z self-help psychobabble that continuously grates on Enrique’s nerves.
—
Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2025
Sometimes, such content might be portrayed as being valid psychological science versus non-sensical psychobabble.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2025
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
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
Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2025
Sometimes, such content might be portrayed as being valid psychological science versus non-sensical psychobabble.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2025
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for psychobabble
Noun
-
In his December post, Ackman acknowledged the uncertainty with some legalese.—
Eva Roytburg,
Fortune,
30 Mar. 2026
-
Lawyers and Uber are also battling over legalese about who would be responsible for paying medical bills after a crash.—
Levi Sumagaysay,
Mercury News,
24 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
Meaningless gobbledygook to an outsider, yet powerful to those who know how to wield those sounds properly.—
Noel Murray,
Vulture,
17 Oct. 2025
-
Bob Kring DeBary Congressional bill is full of greed The Great Big Beautiful Bill reads like 950 pages of of gobbledygook distilled into four words: Greedy, stingy, mean and short-sighted.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
2 July 2025
Noun
-
With its iconic captains, philosophical dilemmas and unforgettable alien encounters, the Trek universe is rich with lore, logic, and a whole lot of technobabble.—
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry,
Space.com,
19 Oct. 2025
-
Some individuals’ self-destructive dependence on AI to make sense of the world through religious prophecy, sci-fi technobabble, conspiracy theories, or all of the above has led to family rifts, divorces, and gradual alienation from society itself.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
22 June 2025
Noun
-
Legal gibberish Let’s start with those last two words.—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
29 Mar. 2026
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Naturally, Luke and Vader make lightsaber noises and the odd gibberish babble.—
Simon Hill,
Wired News,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
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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There is a lot of rigmarole there that is conveniently hidden when positing this as a common sense thing.—
Mikey O'Connell,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Mar. 2026
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To think there was ever a world in which Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni settled out of court, or worse yet, went to court in March of this year so that, by the time this blog post is being written, they might almost be done with the whole rigamarole.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
26 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Psychobabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/psychobabble. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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