properly speaking
1
6.7
- idiom
- Formal
:
estrictamente hablando
- Characters, properly speaking, weren't even supposed to exist.
Do they want us to have a state or not, properly speaking?
- Do they want us to have a state or not, properly speaking?
- So he says, well, OK then properly speaking, what is it that I imagine when I'm thinking of something of this sort?
Examples
-
If it is not a "landscape," properly speaking, neither is it clearly "satire."
Academic text (2011) -
For example, it has been argued that housing and workplace health and safety are not, properly speaking, commodities.
Academic text (1990) -
"Human cities are not, properly speaking, "things," though there are things, primarily human things, within them.
Academic text (2000) -
So he says, well, OK then properly speaking, what is it that I imagine when I'm thinking of something of this sort?
-
The second is a confrontation with things, properly speaking.
Academic text (2004) -
We'll think of it as a torus, properly speaking, in which each direction is a circle.
-
Journalists' criticism has given way to that of literary critics, properly speaking.
Academic text (2003) -
Properly speaking, they belong not to the world of high art but to that of illustration and graphic art.
Academic text (2009) -
Oligarchies pursue the wealth of the few and thus cannot be called a government, properly speaking.
Blog text (32) -
When discussing literature, properly speaking, one must consider the author's intentions.
Synonyms
434
4.8
Something is true by the exact rules or facts, not by how people usually think
17
3.7
A phrase that gives more exact information about what was just said
14
4.3
If you look at the exact meaning, this is true
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'properly' (correctly) and 'speaking' (in terms of speaking) give a clear clue that the phrase relates to stating something in a correct or technical sense, so part of the meaning is derivable from the parts. However, the expression functions as a conventional discourse marker meaning 'strictly/technically speaking' and uses an abstracted sense of 'speaking' that a B1 learner may not fully predict without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Properly speaking comes from people who wanted to be exact when they talked. Here properly means 'correctly' and speaking shows it is about words, so people use the phrase to show that what follows is 'strictly correct'.