quote unquote
Emphasizes the following (or sometimes preceding) word or phrase for irony, or marks it as not the normal sense of the term.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He is a quote unquote expert, but he knows nothing.”
“I am staying in a quote unquote luxury hotel that has no hot water.”
“Your quote unquote healthy snack actually contains a lot of hidden sugar.”
“My boss calls this a mandatory meeting, but it is quote unquote optional for everyone.”
“She says she is looking for a quote unquote partner, but she really just wants someone to pay her expensive monthly bills.”
“The company claims this is a quote unquote fresh start, but they are still using the same old equipment from ten years ago.”
“The politician promised a quote unquote transparent process, yet the public remains excluded from every major decision.”
From *quote* + *unquote*, the term emerged as a spoken equivalent to the physical gesture of air quotes. It functions as an oral analogue to the scare quotes of print media, signalling the presence of irony, sarcasm, or euphemism within a statement.
Last updated August 10, 2026