SO TO SPEAK Definition & Meaning

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so to speak

Phrased like this, in a manner of speaking, as in He was, so to speak, the head of the family, although he was only related by marriage to most of the family members. This term originally meant “in the vernacular” or “lower-class language” and was used as an aristocrat's apology for stooping to such use. [Early 1800s] Also see as it were.

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There is no fossil record of sentient AI, no ice cores of machine feeling, so to speak.

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By expressing these genes in the bacteria E. coli, they pinned down the plant’s recipe, so to speak.

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“That was his way of communicating with the outside world, so to speak,” Camuso said.

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It felt like a massive privilege to be a part of launching Isaac on TV, so to speak.

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"I get victimised by it, so to speak, but that's life," he chuckles.

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