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quote

quote

386 2.3
Marks at the start and end of words that show someone's exact speech or writing
  • noun
  • /kwoʊt/
: comilla
  • That's a direct quote, sir.
  • end the quote

riders say this in quotes, air quotes. They go into the courthouse,

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Examples

  • They found evidence to those points to be, quote, "Overwhelming".

  • "The city of New York will not let property "be destroyed by anyone," end quote.

  • So Mac spoke to a reporter about the contest, and she wants a quote.

  • Timely as it may seem, this quote was written by James L. Mursell in 1943.

    Academic text (1997)
  • One witness told us, quote, "She just went mad."

  • If one notes the word "cosmopolitan" in this quote, it clearly applies to Santayana as well.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Quote only that which cannot be paraphrased; offer the jewel of a quote and jettison the setting.

    Academic text (2017)
  • The teacher asked the students to provide a direct quote from the book to support their argument.

  • In her presentation, she included a famous quote by Albert Einstein about imagination.

  • The article ended with a poignant quote from the author that encapsulated her views.

Synonyms

quotation mark
vsquote
12 1.1

Small signs in writing used to show the exact words someone said or a short title like a song

is mainly used to show attributed speech rather than for highlighting
inverted comma
vsquote
  • UK
1 3.8

Marks like single or double quote that go around words to show someone's exact words

is the general punctuation for attributing words to someone else
single quote
vsquote
1 3.4

A punctuation mark like an apostrophe used to show speech or a quote inside another quote

covers this but more often refers to paired marks for speech
double quotes
vsquote
1 1.6

Two quotation marks used to show direct speech or a quotation

can mean these marks but also includes single-mark uses

Idioms

quote unquote
  • Informal
52 7.7

To show a word someone else said or that you doubt it

Compounds

8 2.5

A saying that many people know and repeat

scare quote
  • Literature
2 7.7

Quotation marks put around a word to show doubt or irony

pull quote
  • Literature
2 4.1

A short quotation from an article shown separately to draw attention

1 3.4

A punctuation mark like an apostrophe used to show speech or a quote inside another quote

rent-a-quote
  • Offensive
1 9.9

A person the media often asks to give short predictable comments

Surface Forms

quote singular
quotes plural

Etymology

The word quote comes from the Latin root quot-, which means 'how many' and also appears in quota. Long ago, writers used marks to show the exact words taken from a numbered text, so quotation marks show that the words are taken from someone else.