English

Alternative forms

• so to say

Adverb

so to speak

1. In a manner of speaking.
   • 1876, Mark Twain, chapter 4, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:

     Then Tom girded up his loins, so to speak, and went to work.

   • 1902, Joseph Conrad, Youth:

     This could have occurred nowhere but in England, where men and sea interpenetrate, so to speak.

   • 1903, O. Henry, “A Cosmopolitan in a Cafe”, in The Four Million:

     He took the great, round world in his hand, so to speak, familiarly, contemptuously, and it seemed no larger than the seed of a Maraschino cherry in a table d'hôte grape fruit.

   • 2016 May 5, James Barron; Colin Moynihan, “Obama Visits Firehouse in Midtown Manhattan”, in New York Times, retrieved 2011 November 24:

     For Firefighter Joseph Ceravolo, President Obama turned up the heat, so to speak, even before he sat down to an early lunch on Thursday.

Usage notes

• Often used as an accompaniment to a metaphor or a pun.

Synonyms

• as it were
• in a manner of speaking

Translations