Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Neither very good nor very bad; passable: a so-so performance; feeling so-so.
- adv. Neither very well nor very poorly; passably: I swam so-so, but better than yesterday.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Neither very good nor very bad, but generally inclining toward bad; indifferent; middling; passable. See so so, under so.
Wiktionary
- adj. Neither good nor bad; tolerable, passable, indifferent.
- adv. Neither very well nor very poorly.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. Also, moderately or tolerably well; passably; as, he succeeded but
so so . - adj. Neither very good nor very bad; middling; passable; tolerable; indifferent.
- adv. Tolerably; passably.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. being neither good nor bad
- adv. in an acceptable (but not outstanding) manner
Examples
“This global mentality shift is now threatening to strip French mothers of what has, ironically, made them among the most fertile women in the developed world: Their willingness to be so-so moms.”
“Elisabeth Badinter's bestselling book champions France's so-so moms as the secret to high Gallic birth rates.”
“This app's color-matching feature offers the same so-so results as the Benjamin Moore app.”
The Washington Post: With smartphone apps, design assistance is always at hand
“The Twins 'Jon Rauch is so-so, and the Rangers' Neftali Feliz, even though he throws bullets, is still a rookie.”
The Washington Post: The Score: Which baseball teams have the strongest pitchers?
“The defense answered with a resounding 'No' and the offense went along for the ride in a so-so effort against the Monsters of the Midway.”
The Huffington Post: Jay Cutler Injury: Concussion Sidelines QB During Brutal Loss
“Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard bounced back from a so-so Game 3 performance with a 29-save shutout in Game 4.”
“The notably so-so picture quality of earlier releases has been seriously upgraded while the sound is obviously still not a strong suit given the source material but still definitely better.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Giltz: DVDs: Harry Potter Finale Arrives, Now Where's Pottermore?
“She wasn't that beautiful, her face was so-so, but she'll get a man in four blocks!”
“Chances are that in your practice as an executive coach, you've talked with many executives who have received feedback that indicates they are "just so-so" when it comes to strategy.”
The Huffington Post: Marshall Goldsmith: The Indispensable Leader
“He's a handsome fellow but his voice is so-so and his delivery poor.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Giltz: Theater: Daniel Radcliffe "Succeeds" on Broadway
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘so-so’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Hyphenated Repeats
Exactly reduplicated words connected by a hyphen.
aye-aye, cleek-cleek, arc-arc, killy-killy, dum-dum, tom-tom, argon-argon, carbon-carbon, win-win, lose-lose, bye-bye, choo-choo and 113 more...
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double-take
the same word twice with two different meanings for each word and reduplications
sweet sweet, number number, side side, sing sing, by by, sitting sitting, light light, so so, rare rare, medium medium, card card, word word and 41 more...
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Phrases to sort of qualify statements...
The little phrases that signify that your words might not necessarily say exactly what you want to express.
sort of, kind of, as it were, if i may so speak, tanquam, if i may so say, if i may be so bold, if i may use the ..., as ’twere, with respect, if i might add, and so forth and 46 more...
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Another day, a whole nother list
rump, spot on, flank, outflank, rank, bedeck, leafhopper, apocope, academic, set-to, point of no return, cloy and 210 more...
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jmjarmstrong's list
Words that I used to know.
geloscopy, hunker, willy nilly, harum scarum, whacko, meh, nork, misunderestimate, atrabiliousness, luftmensch, auxanometer, hyperhedonia and 1948 more...
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Déjà wordie?
pom-pom, mama, gaga, muumuu, cancan, dodo, aye-aye, kaka, dada, boo-boo, coco, lulu and 18 more...
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Toot Toot, Beep Beep!
chichi, tomtom, weewee, poohpooh, tutu, tsetse, ta-ta, peepee, woop woop, ack-ack, ding-ding, bon bon and 44 more...
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Hyphenated Actual Words
These kind of stun me whenever I see them. Language is just so cool.
chuck-will's-widow, will-o-the-wisp, saw-whet, topsy-turvy, linsey-woolsey, ne'er-do-well, gung-ho, so-so, cul-de-sac, fleur-de-lys, service-berry, major-domo and 33 more...
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You Can Say That Again
dum-dum, dik-dik, doo-doo, aye-aye, bling-bling, bye-bye, boo-boo, buddy-buddy, frou-frou, gado-gado, gee-gee, gang-gang and 32 more...
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trombrarian's Words
buttress, yawp, ajar, tawdry, tornadic, tacitly, murfle, winkapeep, eager, radial, mnemonic, eccentric and 47 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for so-so.
jmjarmstrong JM tried working as a tailor but it was all just so-so. Jun 27, 2011