scare quote
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.94 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
1
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A quotation mark deliberately used to provoke a reaction or to indicate that the author does not approve of a term or clause, rather than to identify a direct quotation.
Example Sentences
- "One other important figure in postmodern thought is Richard Rorty, who might be characterized as master of the scare quote"
- "He is inordinately fond of the scare quote, a sign that he is not really sure of what he's talking about."
- "An incidental pleasure is his witty mastery of the scare quote and the square bracket."
- "I put the relevant pronouns in scare quote because Bundy’s interviewers succeeded in getting Bundy to talk about his crimes only by allowing him to describe them in the third person"
Etymology
Coined by British analytic philosopher G. E. M. Anscombe in 1956 in her essay “Aristotle and the Sea Battle”. Originally spelt with a hyphen.