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Adverb
| An adverb that means "if I were to say it some way (or a different way)". | So to speak; as it were; like; sort of |
| 【Related Expression: 言ってみれば】 | |
(ksa). この本は、言わば私のバイブルだ。
This is, as it were, my Bible.
(ksb). 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.
| 言わば | Sentence。 | |
| 言わば国に誕生日だ。 | Something is, as it were, the nation's birthday | |
| 言わば彼は二度死んだようなものだ。 | He died twice, so to speak |
(a). 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.
(b). 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 represented (literally: was something that represented) this country's conscience, so to speak.
(c). 言わば趣味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.
(d). 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.
(e). 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, (we realise that) Saddam Hussein, who fought against Soviet Russia and Iran, used to be America's bosom buddy, so to speak.
(f). 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.
(g). この酵素は、正常状態では必要な時だけ活性化して細胞を増殖させるのだが、がん細胞の場合は常に活性化し、言わばアクセルを踏みっぱなしの状態で、無秩序に細胞を増殖させてしまうのだ。
In normal cells this enzyme is activated only when needed to promote cell multiplication. However, in cancer cells it is always activated, like a state, so to speak, in which a driver keeps his foot on the accelerator, so cells increase with no control
