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Glite Dictionary
🗣️ To end a quote ✂️ To remove quotes 🔓 To decode text
to unquote

to unquote

2 8.2
To say a word to show you have finished repeating someone else's exact words
  • verb
  • /ʌnˈkwoʊt/
  • Informal
translation icon : decir 'sin comillas'
  • Do healthier hearts always have a higher bet, quote unquote better HIV?
  • quote, unquote

I mean, in modern populations, quote unquote, cuckoldry is quite uncommon.

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Examples

  • And if you have those sorts of genes being reproduced back into the gene pool, that then makes downstream from that a quote unquote, weaker society.

  • So I have been specifically instructed to, quote, unquote, persuade you to take charge of the investigation here.

    Assassin's Bullet (2012)

  • And then what happens when we play this quote unquote game and we think, oh, don't show emotion and be strong.

  • Well then, let's ask the quote-unquote 'prophets' what we should call it instead.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • But when I first quote unquote heard John Coltrane, wasn't the first time I listened.

  • So at that young age you didn't see, you didn't envisage you would be a quote unquote success.

  • The speaker emphasized his point and concluded with, quote, unquote, "This is our final decision."

  • During the meeting, she went on to say, quote, unquote, "We must act swiftly to resolve these issues."

  • He often uses the phrase, quote, unquote, "We're in this together," to unite his team.

Idioms

quote unquote
  • Informal
6 7.7

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

Surface Forms

unquote infinitive
unquoted past
unquoted past participle
unquoting present participle
unquotes third person singular

Morphology

unquote = quote (semi-transparent) = un + quote

Formally 'un-' + 'quote' suggests negation, but the pragmatic convention of saying 'unquote' aloud to mark the end of a quotation is a conversational convention rather than a literal morphological negation.

Etymology

Unquote is formed from un- 'reverse' and quote 'to repeat someone else's words', and it works like saying 'end quote' aloud. So when you say unquote in speech you are telling listeners the quoted part is finished.