"so-called" meaning in English

See so-called in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: so-called [positive], – [comparative], – [superlative]
Head templates: {{adjective|so-called}} [POS TABLE]
  1. When someone uses the word "so-called" to talk about something, they mean that other people talk about the thing that way, but they don't agree.
    Sense id: simple-so-called-en-adj-xL-Pq~My
     
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "so-called",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "so-called"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adjective"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "When are we going to leave this so-called party? (The person saying this thinks it should not be called a party. Probably they think the party is not fun.)"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When someone uses the word \"so-called\" to talk about something, they mean that other people talk about the thing that way, but they don't agree."
      ],
      "id": "simple-so-called-en-adj-xL-Pq~My"
    }
  ],
  "word": "so-called"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "so-called",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "–",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "so-called"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adjective"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "When are we going to leave this so-called party? (The person saying this thinks it should not be called a party. Probably they think the party is not fun.)"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "When someone uses the word \"so-called\" to talk about something, they mean that other people talk about the thing that way, but they don't agree."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "so-called"
}

Download raw JSONL data for so-called meaning in English (0.7kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-29 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (fef8596 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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