as it were

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[edit] English

Probably a truncation of "as it were so".

used to indicate that a word or statement is perhaps not exact though practically right.
- 1884, Edwin Abbott Abbott, Flatland, A Romance of Many Dimensions,
  
  Yet 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.

to indicate a word or statement is not exact