scare quote
scare quote noun: 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.
Noun
scare quote (plural scare quotes)
- 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.
- One other important figure in postmodern thought is Richard Rorty, who might be characterized as master of the scare quote2001 January 1, “The Retreat From Inquiry and Knowledge in Special Education.”, in Journal of Special Education
- He is inordinately fond of the scare quote, a sign that he is not really sure of what he's talking about.2004, P Timms, What's Wrong with Contemporary Art?
- Synonyms:
- shudder quote, sneer quote
Examples of scare quote in a sentence
- An incidental pleasure is his witty mastery of the scare quote and the square bracket.2006 September 6, “Where Hairsplitting Can Become High Drama”, in New York Sun:
- 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 person2008, D Jeske, “Friendship and the grounds of reasons”, in papyrus.bib.umontreal.ca:
Synonyms of scare quote
Forms of scare quote
| plural | scare quotes |
|---|---|
| alternative form | scarequote |
| alternative form | scare-quote |
Origin of scare quote
Coined by British analytic philosopher G. E. M. Anscombe in 1956 in her essay “Aristotle and the Sea Battle”. Originally spelt with a hyphen.
Questions about scare quote
- What does scare quote mean?
- Scare quote means 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.
- How do you use scare quote in a sentence?
- An incidental pleasure is his witty mastery of the scare quote and the square bracket.
- What part of speech is scare quote?
- Scare quote is a noun.
- What is the plural of scare quote?
- The plural of scare quote is scare quotes.
Words near scare quote in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: scare quote (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-scare quote.ogg.
Cite this entry: “scare quote.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scare_quote. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.