Idiom
or words to that effect
Meaning
used to indicate a paraphrase or the chance of an error in the details of reported speech.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He said he was busy, or words to that effect.”
“She told me the project was cancelled, or words to that effect, so I stopped working on it immediately.”
“The witness claimed the defendant had threatened him, or words to that effect, leaving the jury to interpret the exact nature of the warning.”
Examples
simple
“He said he was busy, or words to that effect.”
contextual
“She told me the project was cancelled, or words to that effect, so I stopped working on it immediately.”
complex
“The witness claimed the defendant had threatened him, or words to that effect, leaving the jury to interpret the exact nature of the warning.”
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated