so-called meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

so-called

adj

UK /ˈsəʊˌkɔːld/ · US /ˈsoʊˌkɔld/

Etymology From so + called.

So named; commonly called.

the so-called Ising mode
About 200 guests were invited and entertained to lunch in the so-called booking hall at Waterloo; the contractors, Spiers & Pond Limited, were much praised for organising the repast, with attendant cloak room facilities, so well in such unfavourable surroundings.1958 August 23, T. S. Lascelles, “Diamond Jubilee of the Waterloo & City Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 523:

3 more examples

Another Canadian example is that of the so-called Halfback Program initiated in the province of Ontario. With this scheme state lottery tickets with which no prizes are won retain 50% of the value of their initial cost […]1988, Ingrid Coetzee, Gerhard-Mark Van der Waal, Conservation of Culture: Changing Context and Challenges:
... I hadn't met any straight women at the gay bars — a few so called "fag hags" fraternizing with the boys, of course, but ...2010, Matty McEire, Looking for Sheville, Dog Ear Publishing, →ISBN, page 78:
The Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday became the first major national security agency to offer so-called buyouts to its entire workforce, a CIA spokesperson and two other sources familiar with the offer said, part of President Donald Trump’s broad effort to shrink the federal government and shape it to his agenda.2025 February 4, Katie Bo Lillis and Kaitlan Collins, “CIA sends ‘buyout’ offers to entire workforce”, in CNN:

Ironic commonly called by such a name, but false or unfitting.

These so-called "assistants" are making our jobs harder, not easier!
[…]dawdling away the hours in the Park as if all the world and its millions of honest hard workers were created solely for the casual diversion of the so-called 'upper' classes,[…]1895, Marie Corelli, The Sorrows of Satan: or The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, published 1896, →OCLC, page 5:

1 more example

So-called Orthodox synagogues who organized mixed dances in order to raise money for various causes.2024, David Golinkin, “Is Mixed Dancing Really Forbidden At Weddings?”, in Responsa in a Moment, volume 4, page 242: