in so many words

Idioms  

1. In those precise words; also, plainly, directly. For example, He didn't tell me in so many words, but I understood that he planned to apply, or, as Charles Dickens put it in Sketches by “Boz” (1836): “That the Lord Mayor had threatened in so many words to pull down the London Bridge.” [Late 1600s]

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Example Sentences

And Rupert turned to Elisabeth and told her, “Well, you should tell James to essentially quit. I want you to fire your brother,” in so many words.

From Slate • Mar. 21, 2026

Allegedly, Romanians saw an American oil tycoon enjoying easy access to nice cars and other possessions and thought, in so many words, "Why can't that be me?"

From Salon • Apr. 11, 2025

Not in so many words, but Yog never made it a secret of how he perceived my part in our friendship and how it related to his evolution as a young man.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2023

Curley was saying, in so many words, that the justices will not be handing down any more decisions until then, in a term in which they have so far decided cases at a glacial pace.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 27, 2023

There’s no mistaking what the themes of Mueller’s discussion are; he tells us in so many words.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker