Meanings
- not comparableUsed to indicate that a word or statement is perhaps not exact though practically right; as if it were so.
With so much construction and renovation going on all around him, he was more or less living in a new city now, as it were. [His city is not newly founded, and it has been neither renamed nor moved, but in some practical way it is true that he does not live in the same city that he used to live in.]
3 more examples
God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the ſtrength of an Vnicorne.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 23:22, column 2Yet so strong is the parental ambition among those Polygons who are, as it were, on the fringe of the Circular class, that it is very rare to find a Nobleman of that position in society, who has neglected to place his first-born in the Circular Neo-Therapeutic Gymnasium before he has attained the age of a month.
1884, Edwin Abbott Abbott, Flatland, A Romance of Many Dimensions[T]here was no very clear vision, to these people, of supra-mundane beings, sitting apart and ordaining the affairs of earth, as it were from a distance.
1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., page 91Synonyms: if you will, in a manner of speaking, so to speak
- not comparableUsed to draw attention to the use of a metaphor, sometimes to prevent confusion or to highlight wordplay.
She gave all of the women seated at the restaurant food for thought, as it were.
4 more examples
Concerns that cloud seeding might “steal” water from an area a cloud is traveling toward—robbing Peter to water Paul, as it were—have been dispelled.
Scientists hope Crispr might also be used for genomic surgery, as it were, to correct errant genes that cause disease.
2014 March 3, “A Powerful New Way to Edit DNA”, in New York TimesThe Volkswagen diesel-emissions exploit was caused by a software failing, even if it seems to have been engineered, as it were, deliberately-
2015 November 5, “Stop Calling Yourselves Engineers”, in The AtlanticCongress ended the bracero program in 1964, and the next 15 years were the salad days, as it were, for farmworkers
2017 March 31, “Hail Cesar!”, in National ReviewSynonyms: figuratively, if you will, metaphorically, so to speak
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbUsed to indicate that a word or statement is perhaps not exact though practically right; as if it were so.
adverbUsed to draw attention to the use of a metaphor, sometimes to prevent confusion or to highlight wordplay.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbas if it were really so
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old English*ealswā hit wǣre
- Middle Englishas it were
- Englishas it were
From Middle English as it were, as hyt were, als it were, als hit were, from Old English *ealswā hit wǣre, attested only as swā hit wǣre and swylċe hit wǣre (“as it were”, literally “as it would be”). Compare Dutch als het ware.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans as't ware
- as't wareto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Chinese Mandarin 可說 /可说, 好像
- 可說 /可说 (kěshuō)to indicate a word or statement is not exact
- 好像 (hǎoxiàng)to indicate a word or statement is not exact
Czech jakoby
- jakobyto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Danish så at sige
- så at sigeto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Dutch als het ware
- als het wareto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Finnish niin sanotusti
- niin sanotustito indicate a word or statement is not exact
French pour ainsi dire
- pour ainsi direto indicate a word or statement is not exact
German gewissermaßen, gleichsam
- gewissermaßento indicate a word or statement is not exact
- gleichsamto indicate a word or statement is not exact
- sozusagento indicate a word or statement is not exact
Hungarian mintha, mintegy
- minthato indicate a word or statement is not exact
- mintegyto indicate a word or statement is not exact
- kvázito indicate a word or statement is not exact
Latin ut ita dicam
- ut ita dicamto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Lithuanian lyg, tarytum
- lygto indicate a word or statement is not exact
- tarytumto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Māori ētia
- ētiato indicate a word or statement is not exact
Norwegian mer eller mindre
- mer eller mindreto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Polish niejako
- niejakoto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Portuguese por assim dizer, digamos assim
- por assim dizerto indicate a word or statement is not exact
- digamos assimto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Russian так сказа́ть
- так сказа́ть (tak skazátʹ)to indicate a word or statement is not exact
Scottish Gaelic mar gum biodh
- mar gum biodhto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Spanish por así decirlo, por decirlo así
- por así decirloto indicate a word or statement is not exact
- por decirlo asíto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Swedish typ, så att säga
- typto indicate a word or statement is not exact
- så att sägato indicate a word or statement is not exact
- liksomto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Welsh fel petai
- fel petaito indicate a word or statement is not exact
Yiddish כּבֿיכול
- כּבֿיכולto indicate a word or statement is not exact
Cite this entry
as it were. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20it%20were
“as it were.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20it%20were. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “as it were,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20it%20were.
Source: as it were on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.