Meaning of scare quote | Babel Free

Definitions

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.

in-plural

Equivalents

Examples

“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”

CEFR level