scare quotes (idea)

Scare quotes are [quotation marks] used to distance the speaker from the words in question, rather than to mark a [direct quotation]. Scare quotes are usually used to connote a tone of [sarcasm] or suggest that the opposite of what the quoted words suggest is the actual truth, implying that these are "their words, not mine."

• quotation marks
• sarcasm

• direct quotation