❝ Ironic quotation marks ❝ To mark with irony

to scare quote

8.2

To put quotation marks around a word to show doubt or irony

phrasal verb

Literature

: usar comillas irónicas

She scare-quoted the minister's remark in her article, signalling doubt to readers.

Examples

Editors warned reporters not to scare quote sources unnecessarily, which can undermine credibility.
He often resorts to scare quoting when discussing politics.
Many newspaper columnists scare quote words like 'expert' to show clear scepticism about claims.
I can't believe you scare quoted that term!
Many newspaper columnists scare quote terms like 'expert' to express their skepticism.
In her review, she scare quoted the politician's statement to indicate her doubts.
During the debate, he tended to scare quote his opponents' arguments to show his disbelief.

Surface Forms

scare quote infinitive

scared quote past

scared quote past participle

scaring quote present participle

scare quotes third person singular

Morphology

scare + quote

The compound links 'scare' (fear/doubt) with 'quote' (quotation mark), so a learner who knows both words can get a partial cue that these are quotation marks used to signal a negative stance or skepticism. However the idiomatic function—using quotes to indicate irony, doubt, or distancing—is not strictly literal or a standard compositional pattern, so the meaning is only partially predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Scare quote as a verb comes from the same image of putting quotation marks around a word as a kind of warning. To scare-quote something means to mark it with quotes to show 'doubt' or that it is being used 'ironically'.