words to that effect
- idiom
:
palabras en ese sentido
- She told me to meet her at seven, or words to that effect, but I wasn't sure.
And that he was roughed up and interrogated, you know, very brutally or words to that effect.
- And that he was roughed up and interrogated, you know, very brutally or words to that effect.
- Apparently one or more of the guys allegedly instructed the non citizens quote to go back to Mexico or words to that effect.
Examples
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Or more colorful words to that effect—they are Marines.
Blog text (12) -
He mentioned, or words to that effect, that we should reconsider our strategy.
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The manager said we need to improve our performance, or words to that effect, during the meeting.
Synonyms
7
4.2
A short text that gives the same meaning in different words to make it clearer
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The overall sense — ‘words having that meaning’ — is partly derivable from the parts: 'words' plus the prepositional phrase 'to that effect' where 'effect' here functions as 'meaning' or 'sense'. However, 'to that effect' is a somewhat idiomatic/formulaic use and the shift of 'effect' to mean 'meaning/intent' may not be immediately predictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure, so the phrase is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Words to that effect comes from people repeating the main idea in different words. They would say 'words to that effect' to show they were not giving the exact quote. So, it now means 'said or written with a similar meaning but not the exact words'.