How to Use per se in a Sentence

per se

1 of 2 adverb

• Though they’ve long been beloved by the pre-teen set, Smash Mouth isn’t a kiddie band, per se.
  — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Sep. 2023
• And while the Emery isn’t reversible per se, the comforter is solid on the reverse side.
  — Sharon Brandwein, Southern Living, 3 Aug. 2023
• But while opera may not be Bey’s wheelhouse, per se, she would not be lost at sea.
  — Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 1 Apr. 2024
• Bobbing heads, jumping and waving glow sticks, the crowd didn’t get hyped up, per se.
  — Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rolling Stone, 17 Mar. 2024
• Putin’s speech focused not on Ukraine per se but on the broader confrontation with the West.
  — Foreign Affairs, 10 Nov. 2023
• There's no actual recipe for peanuts and candy corn fall mix, per se.
  — Emily Vanschmus, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 Sep. 2023
• Read full article The fifth installment in the Indy saga is not a bad movie per se.
  — Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 28 June 2023
• Troye Sivan would like to set the record straight — well, not straight per se — about some rumors that have pervaded the internet for the last few years.
  — Stephen Daw, Billboard, 28 July 2023
• The bill does not stipulate any penalties for eating dog meat per se.
  — Michael Dorgan, Fox News, 9 Jan. 2024
• Riot views esports as part of the game business, rather than as a sports enterprise per se.
  — Sarah Parvini, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2023
• The study was about canine grieving and conducted in Italy, not about Italian dogs, per se.
  — Timothy Bella, Washington Post, 14 Nov. 2023
• While the Morgan family didn’t live here, per se, the family’s staff did.
  — Emma Reynolds, Robb Report, 26 Apr. 2023
• While this entry isn’t a coverlet per se, linen lovers may want to add this option to their shortlist.
  — Sharon Brandwein, Southern Living, 19 Jan. 2024
• As coding per se begins to matter less, maybe softer skills will shine.
  — James Somers, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023
• But that doesn't mean that older vehicles are not, per se, secure.
  — Michael Harley, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
• And while the fat itself isn't actually hard per se, the tissues that make up your abdomen are, which is why your beer belly feels rigid to the touch.
  — Sarah Fielding, Men's Health, 31 Mar. 2023
• And the humble scion of the George Martin family would be the last to claim that this new version marks an improvement, per se, on what went out into the world in ’66.
  — Chris Willman, Variety, 27 June 2023
• And, while the Lions aren’t young, per se — in fact, the number of seniors (11) even caught Campbell off guard at first — a group of new faces will be key in a potential title run.
  — Shane Hoffmann | , oregonlive, 7 Sep. 2023
• The activists, members of the British group Just Stop Oil, were not protesting oil painting per se but, rather, their government’s licensing of new oil and gas projects.
  — Leslie Camhi, The New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2023
• The images were not art, per se, but exercises in framing, and how framing does or does not clarify truth.
  — Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 22 June 2023
• Of course, this conviction wouldn’t be for insurrection, per se.
  — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2023
• That's not to say maintaining such a lifestyle is easy per se; Stewart takes it seriously.
  — Danielle Sinay, Glamour, 9 Feb. 2024
• One thing that bothers me: revenue comes only from trading fees but not from having more shareholders per se.
  — Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez, Fortune Crypto, 22 Aug. 2023
• We were never influenced by sounds per se, or direction, or anything like that.
  — Eric Renner Brown, Billboard, 9 Nov. 2023
• But this is the first time of really having this big leadership role, per se, trying to keep everyone on the team together.
  — Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Nov. 2023
• Not a gallery per se, but a treasure trove of original, mostly local and all contemporary art.
  — Jessica Swannie, Charlotte Observer, 30 Jan. 2024
• What instead made the testimony infuriating was not the words per se but the hypocrisy of their assertion.
  — Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 23 Dec. 2023
• By tapping and touching, the sightless person does not feel the cane per se but the objects—the curb, the doorway—that are felt through the tool, in the same way sighted people experience these objects through their eyes.
  — Chip Colwell, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024
• Not Ukraine reimagined, per se, but a better reflection of the country that has been revealed to the world through 500 days and counting of unlikely resilience and resistance.
  — WIRED, 10 July 2023
• None of these are cinematic sins per se, but since the central players and plot develop at a glacial pace, the stylistic choices are little more than white noise humming through (and adding to) the slog.
  — Allaire Nuss, EW.com, 8 Mar. 2024

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per se

2 of 2 adjective

• It was founded by Sikhs and is run by Sikhs, but its work is not for Sikhs, per se.
  — Simran Jeet Singh, Time, 14 May 2021
• Keep in mind that these are not, per se, paintings of women.
  — Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 12 Nov. 2021
• Not trying to have a sound per se, just getting in a room and have fun and make music.
  — Matt Wake | [e-mail], al, 2 July 2021
• And yet, the showrunner wouldn't say the final season has a villain, per se.
  — Samantha Highfill, EW.com, 16 Dec. 2022
• That's not a tax increase per se, but an attempt to model the full effect of the tax changes.
  — CBS News, 1 Mar. 2022
• This is all to say that it’s not as though the federal coffers have been opened for psychedelics per se.
  — Madison Margolin, Rolling Stone, 11 Nov. 2021
• The Fresh researchers were quick to add that this serum is not an anti-aging serum, per se.
  — Megan Decker, refinery29.com, 3 Aug. 2022
• There are many ways to cook eggs: scrambled, poached, hard-boiled, in a salad—no one way is wrong per se.
  — Magdalena O'Neal, Sunset Magazine, 4 Mar. 2022
• But as with any good design, the idea is that none of this — not the objects nor the place in which they’re dreamed up — feels designed per se.
  — New York Times, 16 Feb. 2022
• The mesocyclone was not the tornado, per se, that tracked through Bowie.
  — Jason Samenow, Washington Post, 5 July 2022
• Their focus is not the football, per se, but how subtle changes in a kick affect it.
  — Wil S. Hylton, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2022
• Perhaps the blocks will work and inversions per se won’t make a comeback.
  — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 30 Apr. 2021
• Oficio is not a fire restaurant, per se, but chef Hugo Candeias and his team know their way around a flame.
  — Ann Abel, Forbes, 27 Jan. 2022
• Mullen didn’t miss a basketball game because of the injury, per se.
  — Michael Osipoff, chicagotribune.com, 23 Mar. 2022
• It’s not a residency program per se but a visa that gives you the right to stay in Panama for up to 18 months.
  — Kathleen Peddicord, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2021
• This is not a reinvention of Stetson, per se, due to the unique, enduring nature of the brand.
  — Joseph Deacetis, Forbes, 29 Oct. 2021
• The outcome hasn’t surprised first-year Cleveland coach Sam Glasgow, per se, but being in the thick of it all?
  — Shane Hoffmann, oregonlive, 2 Feb. 2023
• The next death doesn’t happen in Multiverse of Madness per se.
  — Chris Smith, BGR, 9 May 2022
• Fulfillment of this Job was not about the credential per se.
  — Michael B. Horn, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2021
• Rising, a fourth-year sophomore, is not the incumbent, per se, but has already won the job once.
  — Josh Newman, The Salt Lake Tribune, 3 Aug. 2021
• Those apps might not be entirely within the realm of the AI driving system per se.
  — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2022
• Well, not exactly cheap, per se, but gas is far less expensive in the South than out West.
  — David Goldman, CNN, 30 May 2021
• Or even a lobby per se—just a discrete private entrance with a 24-hour concierge.
  — Alison S. Cohn, Harper's BAZAAR, 8 Sep. 2022
• The production veteran also said that the next Dune won’t be a sequel per se, but Part II of the first film.
  — Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2022
• The states are arguing that the problem isn’t the contract, per se, but rather Apple’s conduct.
  — Tim De Chant, Ars Technica, 28 Jan. 2022
• The resellers, however, don’t see themselves as being the wrong hands, per se.
  — Saira Mueller, Wired, 16 Nov. 2021
• There will be larger, shareable plates, but no entrees per se.
  — Esther Mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 July 2022
• The lottery is not an opponent per se, but its concerns will have to be addressed.
  — BostonGlobe.com, 16 June 2021
• There are no cliffhangers, per se, but there are surprises.
  — Brendan O'Meara, Longreads, 6 Apr. 2022
• There aren’t any foul words per se in the essay, other than alluding to the famed evildoer and equating that person with John Smith.
  — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 5 Feb. 2023

Last Updated: 9 Jun 2024