Word.ws English Dictionary

quote unquote

Syllables: quote un·quoteUK/kwəʊ̯t ʌn.kwəʊ̯t/

quote unquote adjective: emphasizes the following (or sometimes preceding) word or phrase for irony, or marks it as not the normal sense of the term.

Adjective

quote unquote (not comparable)

  1. (idiomatic) Emphasizes the following (or sometimes preceding) word or phrase for irony, or marks it as not the normal sense of the term.
    • Maybe you should ask your quote unquote friend what happened to the money.
    • `We're a young quote-unquote club. [...] In time, it will become a club.'1997 August 18, New York, page 38
    Synonyms:
    so-called, supposed

Adverb

quote … unquote (not comparable)

  1. Used in spoken language to delimit a quotation in the same function as quotation marks.
    • Adam Smith claimed that a capitalist is, quote, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention, unquote.
    • So you quote love unquote me / Well, stranger things have come to be2004, “I Don't Believe You”, performed by The Magnetic Fields
    Synonyms:
    quote

quote unquote meaning in Vietnamese

quote unquote in Vietnamese

emphasizes the following word or phrase for irony
nháy nháy

Synonyms of quote unquote

Forms of quote unquote

alternative formquote-unquote
alternative formquote on quote
alternative formquote end quote

Origin of quote unquote

From quote + unquote, a spoken equivalent of air quotes, used to express satire, sarcasm, irony or euphemism, analogous to scare quotes in print.

Questions about quote unquote

What does quote unquote mean?
Quote unquote means emphasizes the following (or sometimes preceding) word or phrase for irony, or marks it as not the normal sense of the term.
What is quote unquote in Vietnamese?
Quote unquote in Vietnamese is nháy nháy. See Quote unquote meaning in Vietnamese.
What part of speech is quote unquote?
Quote unquote can be an adjective or an adverb.
How do you pronounce quote unquote?
Quote unquote is pronounced /kwəʊ̯t ʌn.kwəʊ̯t/ (UK).

Words near quote unquote in the dictionary

  1. quote stuffing
  2. quote tweet
  3. quote tweeted
  4. quote tweeting
  5. quote tweets
  6. quote unquote
  7. quote-driven
  8. quote-seeker
  9. quote-tweet
  10. quote-tweeted
  11. quote-tweeting

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: quote unquote (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-quote unquote.ogg.

Cite this entry: “quote unquote.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quote_unquote. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.