as it were
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After years at war – or performing military service as it were – they’re back to pick up where they left off with their lives, music and fans.
From Salon • Mar. 27, 2026
They aimed to retain the “breathing units” of biblical speech, even if that meant straining German with Hebraic syntax; the criteria, Mendes-Flohr observes, were “not aesthetic but, as it were, respiratory.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
The latest evidence for the prosecution, as it were, comes from the Social Security rolls, which show that record numbers of people are now claiming monthly benefits.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 5, 2025
"But it was very, very moving. It lifted the pressure, a weight off my head, as it were," he says.
From BBC • Aug. 11, 2025
They take the view that science is, in essence, common sense applied systematically, or, as Karl Popper put it, ‘common-sense knowledge writ large, as it were’.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
