so to speak

idiom

—used to indicate that one is using words in an unusual or figurative way rather than a literal way

We need to be all on the same wavelength, so to speak.

Examples of so to speak in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Everything with these two veterans of stage has a bit of a sheen to it, as if, perhaps, one or both of them might be a showman, so to speak. —Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 7 Jan. 2025

There is no free lunch, so to speak, said Eric Werner, a research scientist who runs the Oxford Advanced Research Foundation and has studied various forms of complexity. —Alexander Nazaryan, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2025

And in the paradigmatic blue state of California, more than half a dozen formerly blue counties are now, so to speak, in the red. —Michelle Weber, Longreads, 30 Dec. 2024

The only misstep, so to speak, is the famous scene when the young dancers in Rose’s traveling troupe are replaced mid-dance by their older selves, a marker of the passage of time. —Greg Evans, Deadline, 19 Dec. 2024