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Synonyms

after a fashion

Idioms  

  1. Also, after a sort. Somehow or other; not very well, as in John can read music, after a fashion, or He managed to paint the house after a sort. The first phrase, in which fashion means “a manner of doing something,” has been so used since the mid-1800s, when it replaced in a fashion. The variant dates from the mid-1500s. Also see in a way; (somehow) or other.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Nevertheless, true crime can be a passive teacher in the same way all entertainment is, after a fashion.

From Salon • Nov. 11, 2023

It’s not writing, but after a fashion, it is creating.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 27, 2023

It also replicates, after a fashion, some of the crediting issues many TikTok creators have protested.

From New York Times • Jun. 30, 2022

It must have worked, after a fashion - Maxwell Snr later named his private yacht the Lady Ghislaine, rather than after Betty or his three older daughters.

From BBC • Dec. 29, 2021

Running about the streets every day and all day long he learned to know the city after a fashion, and he saw this and that of its secret parts.

From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.