scare quotes
Dubious emphasis marks
Scare quotes are quotation marks placed around a word or phrase to signal doubt, irony, or disagreement with its usual meaning.
They suggest the writer doesn't endorse the term: The "experts" got it wrong again.
The name comes from the effect of making the reader wary of taking the quoted word at face value.
Overuse can seem sarcastic or passive-aggressive.
- distancingCreating space or separation
- skepticismDisposition toward doubt
- doubtLack of firm belief
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- mockeryScornful ridicule or travesty
wink wink · nudge nudge · so-called · alleged · euphemism · sarcasm · hedge · framing · signaling · indicating · usages · ambiguity · punctuation · italics · disbelief · intonation · disputed · journalese
- Quotinginverted commas, speech marks, chevrons
- Punctuation stylescomma splice, hyphenation, question marks, serial comma, interrobang
- punctuationperiod, comma, colon, apostrophe, semicolon
- speech verbssaid, says, asked, answered, replied
scare quotesendorsement
Formal expression of support
emphasis · bold text · underlining · plain text · affirmation
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