so-called

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of so-called No, the Rubber City—so-called because of the factories established there by Goodrich, Firestone, General Tire, and Goodyear—had never seen anything like this. Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 12 Sep. 2025 The females can lay eggs in any warm-blooded animal, which then hatch, unleashing hundreds of screwworm larvae, so-called because of their sharp mouths and their burrowing being compared to the motion of a screw. Patrick Smith, NBC news, 25 Aug. 2025 But that is not about being so-called normal or not normal. ABC News, 24 Aug. 2025 Saba, Lesser Antilles Spanning only five square miles, Saba is the most diminutive of the Lesser Antilles, so-called for their size. Kristin Braswell, AFAR Media, 14 Aug. 2025 The 200-mile, so-called, Red Zone in southern California remains the cargo theft hotspot, but motivated by the possibility of lucrative payoffs, thieves are willing to go beyond the zone to make their scores. Ed Garsten, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025 Starting in October 2023, payments resumed, but nonpayment wasn’t reported to credit bureaus because the Department of Education provided borrowers with a so-called on ramp. Medora Lee, USA Today, 17 Apr. 2025 Leigh Bowery arrived from Sunshine, Australia, soon conquered the Cha Cha Club and the Camden Palace, and in 1985 opened Taboo—so-called because nothing that happened there was. Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 17 Sep. 2024 Next year, 13 Hollywood movies slated for release will be shot on Imax digital cameras or film, beating a previous record logged in 2021 when seven so-called filmed for Imax movies came out. Samantha Masunaga, Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for so-called
Adjective
  • The mass protests started in response to the ban—which was lifted on Tuesday, September 9—but have since broadened into an expression of dissatisfaction with the country's political leadership and alleged corruption.
    Robert Birsel Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Sep. 2025
  • Tom Phillips disappeared with his children, Jayda, 12, Maverick, 10, and Ember, 9, after an alleged dispute with their mother back in 2021, PEOPLE previously reported.
    Becca Longmire, PEOPLE, 9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The reaction, though, of supposed country folk has puzzled me the most.
    John Vukmirovich, Chicago Tribune, 5 Sep. 2025
  • As Premier League spending ballooned over the £3billion mark — more than the other four main European domestic leagues combined — PSR and its supposed influence remained a constant in the background, a grim reaper bearing a calculator rather than a scythe.
    Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“So-called.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/so-called. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.

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