psychobabble

noun

Definition of psychobabblenext
as in legalese

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for psychobabble
  1. legalese
  2. bureaucratese
  3. gobbledygook
  4. technobabble
  5. gibberish
  6. double-talk
  7. rigmarole
Noun
  • Disclosures and privacy policies should be stated in plain language, not dense legalese.
    — Ankolika De, The Conversation, 5 Nov. 2026
  • Even the dystopian risk factors, which are dazzling even cloaked in legalese, are a Rorschach test; AI that is powerful enough to kill us all is powerful enough to capture huge economics.
    — Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of legalese
Noun
  • Details of new initiatives were bogged down by mind-numbing bureaucratese.
    — Sharon Grigsby, Dallas News, 11 Apr. 2023
  • 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
Definition of bureaucratese
Noun
  • This dumbed-down Goebbels gobbledygook revived talking points that Habermas had tried to quash during the Historikerstreit.
    — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 15 June 2026
  • But at least some of it was gobbledygook.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 15 June 2026
Definition of gobbledygook
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
Definition of technobabble
Noun
  • Dozens of countries’ names were misspelled or written in pure gibberish.
    — Jim Edwards, Fortune, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Dozens of other countries' names were misspelled or written in pure gibberish.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of gibberish
Noun
  • Pat Paulsen, a master of dry wit, delivered droll, double-talk editorials on social issues before mounting a presidential campaign in 1968 with the Straight Talkin’ American Government (STAG) Party.
    — Fred A. Bernstein, Washington Post, 27 Dec. 2023
  • What new form of narrative, what gory amalgam of truth and spectacle, what double-talking rough beast approaches?
    — James Parker, The Atlantic, 3 Oct. 2023
Definition of double-talk
Noun
  • There was a lot of rigamarole with the studio over Keanu Reeves, as John Wick, cutting off a finger in the John Wick series, so that’s an interesting yet familiar story.
    — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 23 Oct. 2026
  • And the rigmarole of international travel is a very good reason.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 18 Apr. 2026
Definition of rigmarole

Browse Nearby Words

psycho
psychobabble
psychobiographies
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Psychobabble.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/psychobabble. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of lissome

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Longest Long Words List

The Words of the Week - Nov. 13

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
speech-bubble-untangle
Simplify The Convoluted Expression Quiz A quiz that’s as “uncomplicated as a round de...
See All