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so-called love

so-called

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Commonly called.
  • adjective Incorrectly or falsely termed.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See so called, under so, adverb

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective So named; called by such a name (but perhaps called thus with doubtful propriety).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective idiomatic So named; called by such a name, with a very strong connotation that the item is not worthy of that name.
  • adjective mathematics, sciences Same as above, without the negative connotation.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective doubtful or suspect

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

so + called

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Examples

  • 'If there were any lingering doubts concerning the status and integrity of the Palestinian National Authority -- and its so-called President, Mahmoud Abbas (\ "so-called\" because his term of office, such as it was, expired almost a year ago) -- they were surely dispelled once and for all by its decision to drop its support for a UN resolution that would have referred the Goldstone Report on Israel\'s post-Christmas 2008 attack on Gaza to the UN Security Council.

    Saree Makdisi: Last Straw for the Palestinian "Authority"? 2009

  • I usually resist the term "so-called," but it's appropriate here because this amendment is not about balancing the budget.

    The Seattle Times 2011

  • "From your repeated use of the phrase 'so-called anomalies,' can I assume that your observations have suggested a more useful or more accurate term?"

    Chain of Attack Gene De Weese 2000

  • "From your repeated use of the phrase 'so-called anomalies,' can I assume that your observations have suggested a more useful or more accurate term?"

    Chain of Attack Gene De Weese 2000

  • "From your repeated use of the phrase 'so-called anomalies,' can I assume that your observations have suggested a more useful or more accurate term?"

    Chain of Attack Gene De Weese 2000

  • Boykin, then a Pentagon intelligence officer, touched off a firestorm in October 2003 after giving speeches while in uniform in which he referred to the so-called war on terrorism as a battle with Satan.

    Reuters: Press Release 2012

  • There is another and arguably more compelling reason why Slovaks should question the need to cough up in the name of so-called European "solidarity," though.

    Slovakia Says No Mats Persson 2011

  • There is another and arguably more compelling reason why Slovaks should question the need to cough up in the name of so-called European "solidarity."

    Slovakia Says No to Europe's Bailouts Mats Persson 2011

  • The minister was referring to the so-called carry trade, the practice by which some investors borrow money overseas at low international interest rates and then invest it in Brazil.

    Brazil Measures Counter Credit Growth Gerald Jeffris 2011

  • There is a literature—in fact quite an extensive one1—on why companies apparently concentrate their attention on short-term financial control at the expense of longer-term so-called “strategic” controls.

    Managing with Dual Strategies Derek F. Abell 1993

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