From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishso to speakso to speakused when you are saying something in words that do not have their usual meaning We have to pull down the barriers, so to speak, of poverty. → speak
Examples from the Corpus
so to speak• Being in charge of a lethal weapon, so to speak.• Denver had come around, so to speak.• Other than that, the world was my artistic oyster, so to speak.• To get back to business, so to speak.• He could get caught up in the story, so to speak, and little by little begin to forget himself.• The babies, so to speak, are helplessly powerful.• The whole of life, so to speak, is involved in the pursuit of the good life.• We have to pull down the barriers, so to speak, of poverty.• These constitute, so to speak, the raw materials for effective education perse. 