How to Use so to speak in a Sentence

so to speak

idiom

• The status of the preservation of that bridge is, so to speak, up in the air.
  — Brian Amaral, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Apr. 2023
• 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
• 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
• Freeze has said before that who called plays could depend on who had the hot hand, so to speak.
  — Matt Cohen | [e-mail], 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
• 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
• 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
• Now as his successor, Sen. Britt is bringing home the bacon, so to speak.
  — Paul Gattis | [e-mail], 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 once was deemed the Ivory Tower is underwater, so to speak.
  — Paul O. Carrese, National Review, 13 Feb. 2024
• Portland has been chilling, so to speak, with some cool, cloudy days that have even squeezed out a bit of rain at times since Sunday.
  — oregonlive, 7 Aug. 2023
• Apple ended up that case, but there could be some prior art there, so to speak, that helps support the DOJ's case.
  — Michael Calore Lauren Goode, WIRED, 28 Mar. 2024
• Since then, the political winds, so to speak, have shifted.
  — Will Sennott, ProPublica, 18 Apr. 2023
• This project about the Project, so to speak, was done under the aegis of the cultural nonprofit UrbanArts.
  — Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Aug. 2023
• That said, there are plenty of models that bridge both worlds, so to speak, and can be used in most climates without too much trouble.
  — Jim Cobb, Field & Stream, 4 Jan. 2024
• So that one bit isn’t going to tell you how to put the qubit, so to speak, on the globe at some definite latitude and longitude.
  — Quanta Magazine, 14 Mar. 2024
• In 2007, Carey himself risked life and limb, so to speak, during his first episode hosting the show when his arm got stuck during Grocery Game.
  — Ashley Paige, Peoplemag, 20 June 2023
• Her play reflected well, so to speak, on her mentor the Magic Mirror.
  — Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 7 Jan. 2024
• Apple has a tendency to follow the letter of the law, so to speak, while also kicking and screaming about it.
  — WIRED, 16 Nov. 2023
• Meanwhile, Instagram-ready rooms with their loud statement couches and neon signs are going out the door, so to speak.
  — Elise Taylor, Vogue, 4 Jan. 2024

Last Updated: 27 Jun 2024