Word.ws English Dictionary

in name

in name prepositional phrase: nominally, not essentially.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Nominally, not essentially.
    • He is a friend in name only.
    • From briefing material I was aware that Chiang Ching was an ideological fanatic who had strongly opposed my trip. She had led a checkered and contradictory life, from her younger days as an aspiring actress to her leadership of the radical forces in the Cultural Revolution of 1966. For many years...1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1969–1972”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 569

Examples of in name in a sentence

  • For many years she had been Mao's wife in name only, but there was no better name in China, and she had used it for all it was worth to build up her personal faction of supporters.1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1969–1972”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 569:
  • He called it a surviving species in name more than in behavior.1990 Summer, E. Hoyt, “Wild relatives”, in Wilderness, volume 53, number 189, page 45:

Words formed from in name

Questions about in name

What does in name mean?
In name means nominally, not essentially.
How do you use in name in a sentence?
For many years she had been Mao's wife in name only, but there was no better name in China, and she had used it for all it was worth to build up her personal faction of supporters.
What part of speech is in name?
In name is a prepositional phrase.

Words near in name in the dictionary

  1. in more shit than a Werribee duck
  2. in motion
  3. in my honest opinion
  4. in my humble opinion
  5. in my opinion
  6. in name
  7. in nappies
  8. in neat
  9. in need
  10. in no small measure
  11. in no small part

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: in name (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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