Word.ws English Dictionary

scare quotes

scare quotes is the plural of scare quote.

Meaning of scare quote

Noun

scare quote (plural scare quotes)

  1. (in plural) 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

Questions about scare quotes

What is scare quotes the plural of?
Scare quotes is the plural of scare quote.

Words near scare quotes in the dictionary

  1. scare into
  2. scare line
  3. scare lines
  4. scare off
  5. scare quote
  6. scare quotes
  7. scare someone out of their mind
  8. scare someone out of their wits
  9. scare someone to death
  10. scare stories
  11. scare story

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scare quotes (page history and authors); 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.

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