Meaning of soi-disant | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Of a person, self-styled, self-proclaimed, with implications of pretence or dishonesty.
   not-comparable
2. Of an object, claimed to be something it is not; pretended, so-called.
   not-comparable

Equivalents

Examples

“Moreover, Lady Dudley flattered herself with filling the next best part to the principal, that of confidante with Mrs. Courtenaye. Constance had, however, too much good taste⟳, as well as good feeling, for this; she had betrayed her jealousy, not confessed it. Still, this was enough for her soi-disant friend, who went on torturing her with stories about Lady Marchmont's powers of fascination, and Lady Marchmont's coquetry.”

“"Fuck You, Buddy" is the first part in a series (The Trap⟳ - What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom, Sunday, BBC2) about civil liberties: the keen-eared wireless listener will have⟳ been alerted to its soi-disant intellectual credentials by the fact that they are trailing it on Radio 4.”

“A soi-disant pedigree.”

“cicumstances which appear⟳ to have⟳ influenced his soi-disant historical labours.”

“Among the delusions which at different periods have⟳ possessed themselves of the minds of large masses of the human race⟳, perhaps the most curious -- certainly the least creditable -- is the modern soi-disant science of political economy, based on the idea that an advantageous code of social action may be determined irrespectively of the influence⟳ of social affection.”

CEFR level