Scare Quote (Noun)
Meaning
The use of quotation marks to indicate that it is not the authors preferred terminology.
Classification
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.
Examples
- The professor put "alternative facts" in scare quotes to convey her skepticism about the validity of the information.
- The term "theory" is often put in scare quotes in scientific writing to distinguish it from the colloquial use of the word.
- By putting the phrase "best seller" in scare quotes, the reviewer implied that the book was not actually selling well.
- The author's use of scare quotes around "experts" suggested that she questioned the credentials of the individuals being cited.
- The phrase "organic food" was put in scare quotes to indicate that the hotel was using the term loosely.