Main Entry: ¹so

Pronunciation: \ˈsō, especially before adjective or adv followed by “that” sə\

Function: adverb

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English swā; akin to Old High German sō so, Latin sic so, thus, si if, Greek hōs so, thus, Latin suus one's own — more at suicide

Date: before 12th century

1 a : in a manner or way indicated or suggested <do you really think so> —often used as a substitute for a preceding clause <are you ready? I think so> <I didn't like it and I told her so> b : in the same manner or way : also <worked hard and so did she> c : thus 1 <for so the Lord said — Isa 18:4(Authorized Version)> d : then, subsequently <and so home and to bed>
2 a : to an indicated or suggested extent or degree <had never been so happy> b : to a great extent or degree : very, extremely <loves her so> c : to a definite but unspecified extent or degree <can only do so much in a day> d : most certainly : indeed <you did so do it> e : most decidedly : surely <I so don't believe you>
3 : therefore, consequently <the witness is biased and so unreliable>

usage The intensive use of so (sense 2b) is widely condemned in college handbooks but is nonetheless standard <why is American television so shallow? — Anthony Lewis> <the cephalopod eye is an example of a remarkable evolutionary parallel because it is so like the eye of a vertebrate — Sarah F. Robbins> <the kind of sterile over-ingenuity which afflicts so many academic efforts — Times Literary Supplement>. There is no stigma attached to its use in negative contexts and when qualified by a dependent clause <not so long ago> <was so good in mathematics that he began to consider engineering — Current Biography>. The denotation in these uses is, of course, slightly different (see sense 2a). Another emphatic use of so (sense 2e) has developed more recently and occurs mostly in informal contexts.