air quotes

plural noun

: a gesture made by raising and flexing the index and middle fingers of both hands that is used to call attention to a spoken word or expression

Examples of air quotes in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web But computers aren’t dogs, data isn’t kibble, and that previous sentence has way too many air quotes. —

John Pavlus, Quanta Magazine, 8 July 2024 This punchline was so air quotes appalling that gay viewers could enjoy it without having to fret that straight viewers might get the wrong idea about us. —

Mark Harris, New York Times, 17 Aug. 2023 Usually people put intelligence in air quotes. —

Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 7 Sep. 2012 But even in those, the curlicues—doubt, or self-consciousness, or irony, or sinister intent, or complicated subtext, or implicit air quotes—were usually there for anyone willing to hear them. —

Mark Harris, Vulture, 27 Nov. 2021 See all Example Sentences for air quotes

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'air quotes.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.