English

Prepositional phrase

in name

1. Nominally, not essentially.

   He is a friend in name only.

   • 1990 Summer, Hoyt, E., “Wild relatives”, in Wilderness, volume 53, number 189, page 45:

     Ethnobotanist Gary P. Nabhan of the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix made a painful pilgrimage to see Texas wild-rice for his 1989 book, Enduring Seeds. He called it a surviving species in name more than in behavior.

References

• in name at OneLook Dictionary Search