How to Use so to speak in a Sentence

so to speak

idiom
Definition of so to speaknext
  • Below is a list of the film’s menu, so to speak, ranked from the least to most horny.
    — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 30 Apr. 2024
  • The buzz, so to speak, is meant to be even louder this time.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 5 June 2024
  • That's when homes are supposed to fly off the shelves, so to speak.
    — Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 10 July 2024
  • The status of the preservation of that bridge is, so to speak, up in the air.
    — Brian Amaral, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Apr. 2023
  • No flair when moving the sets around on-stage, so to speak.
    — Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 14 Aug. 2024
  • Mark is still, so to speak, drinking the Kool-Aid—his own.
    — Benjamin Hale, Harper's Magazine, 10 July 2023
  • And so, in the case of S&P, the numbers may have gone, but the letters, so to speak, will remain.
    — The Editors, National Review, 10 Aug. 2023
  • But by the time a real Christmas tree has reached your home, it’s been around the block so to speak.
    — Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2023
  • But this taste can lead him, so to speak, to miss the ice cubes in the tumbler while seeking the iceberg in the ocean.
    — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 17 June 2024
  • Heart Berries will continue to grow, so to speak, for as long as the earth is around.
    — Morgan Talty, Peoplemag, 3 June 2024
  • The pill, so to speak, is a type of bacteria called Wolbachia.
    — Dino Grandoni, Anchorage Daily News, 25 Aug. 2023
  • The free radicals become, so to speak, the hammer used to smash the glass on a fire alarm.
    — Jenna Schnuer, CNN, 5 Feb. 2024
  • Grier and McDaniel did a nice job of re-stocking the shelves, so to speak.
    — Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 25 June 2024
  • Freeze has said before that who called plays could depend on who had the hot hand, so to speak.
    — Matt Cohen | [email protected], al, 11 Sep. 2023
  • Some worried Lawson was sailing too close to the sun, so to speak.
    — Hayes Gardner, Baltimore Sun, 18 Aug. 2023
  • But even unguided play here is meant to count as doing the work, so to speak.
    — Kriston Capps, Washington Post, 11 July 2023
  • The book is written from the perspective of a phantom so to speak, from the idea of a scary Black person.
    — Amy Sutherland, BostonGlobe.com, 27 July 2023
  • But the first crack in the dam, so to speak, was my interview with Guinevere.
    — Abbey White, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 June 2023
  • And, as such, the best candidates for alien life may be on watery worlds where life can, so to speak, stay in the shade.
    — Conor Feehly, Discover Magazine, 29 June 2023
  • The targets of the song’s vigilante threats seem to be scattershot., so to speak.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 22 July 2023
  • The notion that the longer distance would help free up parking only goes so far, so to speak.
    — Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Oct. 2023
  • Do the bouts of extreme rain and extreme drought cancel each other out, so to speak?
    — Madeline Heim, Journal Sentinel, 26 July 2024
  • Yet, Stern joked, there should be a cap on how much Cooper-as-an-Eagles fan should be able to fly, so to speak.
    — Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 28 Nov. 2023
  • And her sister Mae had flown the coop, so to speak, which left her with strong feelings of abandonment.
    — Rebecca Angel Baer, Southern Living, 12 Sep. 2024
  • There is plenty of nudity, of course — and not just live and in the flesh, so to speak, but in the form of a photo on the wall: a horrid crotch shot.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 27 Aug. 2023
  • But vertical gardens turn that idea on its head, so to speak.
    — Gina Mayfield, Dallas News, 4 Aug. 2023
  • Take your shoes off and put your feet in the dirt, so to speak, and learn the origins of a lot of the plants and animals that go with the land and all of these stories here.
    — Rachel Chang, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Sep. 2024
  • Now as his successor, Sen. Britt is bringing home the bacon, so to speak.
    — Paul Gattis | [email protected], al, 12 Aug. 2023
  • Herbie’s idea was to create a Wrecking Crew, so to speak, that could back anybody up.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2024
  • What’s keeping a Headless Horseman—so to speak—from taking the treasure for themselves?
    — Outside Online, 19 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'so to speak.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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