A-Z: General definitions: Elevated lexis

Definition

This is language which is regarded as sophisticated, elegant and ‘high register’. A common misconception is that elevated lexis is polysyllabic, but this need not be the case. Other ideas are that such language is often derived from the higher status origins of Latin, Greek or French, as opposed to the lower status Old English (the language of the Anglo-Saxons), e.g. ‘enquire’ compared with ‘ask’.

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