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AdvancedJLPT N2 Grammar

言わば

So to speak; as it were; sort of

Romaji: waba

Meaning & usage

So to speak; as it were; like; sort of | An adverb that means “if I were to say it some way (or a different way)”.

Notes

に当たる here means, "〔相当する・対応する〕 be equal [equivalent] 《to…》; correspond [answer] to…"

Example sentences 8

  1. こうして見てみると、かつてはサダム・フセインも、ソ連やイランと戦ってきた、言わばアメリカの盟友だったわけである。

    When we view it this way, the fact is that Saddam Hussein, who fought against Soviet Russia and Iran, used to be America's bosom buddy, so to speak.

  2. ここまでは、言わばウォーミングアップのようなもので、ここからが本番だ。

    This has been sort of a warm-up, and starting now, the real business begins.

  3. この本は、言わば私のバイブルだ。

    This is, as it were, my Bible.

  4. この試験は言わばアメリカの大学に留学する際のTOEFLに当たる。

    This test is, so to speak, the equivalent of the TOEFL, which people take when they (want to) study at a university in the U.S.

  5. その判決は言わばこの国の良心を代弁したものだった。

    The court's ruling was something that represented this country's conscience, so to speak.

  6. ファッション写真は、１９３０年代までは、言わば「新参者」の分野と見られていたらしい。

    Up to the 1930s, fashion photography was apparently considered a "newcomer” field, so to speak.

  7. 当地区には、言わば幽霊人口である非合法居住者が7~10万人いますが、この人たちは補助金対象外となります。

    In this district there are 70,000 to 100,000 illegal residents, who form, as it were, a ghost population. These people are not eligible to receive assistance subsidies.

  8. 言わば趣味しゅみで始めたことがいつの間にか大きなビジネスになってしまった。

    What I started as sort of a hobby became a large-scale business before I knew it.

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