jargon

plural jargons

1. uncountableA technical terminology unique to a particular subject.

   He used technical jargon but I managed to catch the drift of his argument.

   2 more examples

   Sometimes it pays to overcomplicate your simple messages. Make a list of ten-dollar words, scientific terms, and obscure niblets of jargon and find ways to use them. Your reputation and authority will soar.

   2018 June 13, Michael Schein, “Author Simon Sinek Is Full Of Hot Air (And Other Reasons You Should Follow His Lead)”, in Forbes, archived from the original on 13 Jul 2020

   That’s one of the biggest hurdles of managing a router and your network security in general, it’s a massive chore that is fraught with technical jargon, hurdles and screens saying ‘no’, ‘invalid’ or ‘not available’.

   2022 May 17, Rob Andrews, “Synology SRM 1.3 Software Review Part 4 – The Safe Access Application”, in NAS Compares, archived from the original on 21 May 2022

2. countableA language characteristic of a particular group.

   In fact all the competing theories have developed their own specialized jargons and have a tendency to be difficult to penetrate.

   2014, Ian Hodder, Archaeological Theory Today

   1 more example

   They [the Normans] abandoned their native speech, and adopted the French tongue, in which Latin was the predominant element. They speedily raised their new language to a dignity and importance which it had never before possessed. They found it a barbarous jargon; they fixed it in writing; and they employed it in legislation, in poetry, and in romance.

   1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 11

   Synonyms: argot, cant, intalk, lingo

3. uncountableSpeech or language that is incomprehensible or unintelligible; gibberish.

   Cut the jargon and get to your point.

present singular third person jargons · participle present jargoning · participle past jargoned · past jargoned

1. To utter jargon; to emit confused or unintelligible sounds.

   [T]he noisy jay, / Jargoning like a foreigner at his food; […]

   1863 November 23, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Poet’s Tale. The Birds of Killingworth.”, in Tales of a Wayside Inn, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 195

   2 more examples

   Human ill-nature needs but some Homoiousian iota, or even the pretence of one; and will flow copiously through the eye of a needle: thus always must mortals go jargoning and fuming […].

   1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter III, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book IV (Varennes)

   Prussian Trenck, the poor subterranean Baron, jargons and jangles in an unmelodious manner.

   1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Fatherland in Danger”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume III (The Guillotine), London: James Fraser, […], →OCLC, book III (The Girondins), page 184

plural jargons

1. alternativecountableuncountableAlternative form of jargoon (“A variety of zircon”).

   Synonyms: argot, intalk, lingo