coin a phrase

coin a phrase


  • as one might say
  • to create or invent a new phrase, saying etc.
  • something said before using a popular expression or before saying some variation of an expression
  • to 'ironically' express some phrase
  • to repeat and expression, quotation, etc.

Example Sentences

  1. She was, to coin a phrase, as clever as fox.
  2. Sportsmen, to coin a phrase, have become spiteful competitors
  3. Nowadays our media is nothing more than, to coin a phrase, misrepresentation of actual facts.
  4. To hike and camp in the peaceful wilderness is, to coin a phrase, equivalent to getting reborn.
  5. Corrupt politicians through public displays of concern and generosity try to prove that they are, to coin a phrase, pious and innocent.
  6. Oh you know, he is always happy as a lark, to coin a phrase.


The roots of this phrase date back to the early 14th century where dies where used to make coins by stamping it on sheet metal in a process popularly known as 'minting'. These dies were called coins and therefore 'coining' gradually got associated with 'invention'.

Although variations of the phrase can be seen in literature of George Puttenham (1589) and W. Shakespeare (1607), the exact usage of the phrase (as we know it today) seems to have originated in American Literature with the earliest recorded use being in the 'The Southport American' newspaper in 1848.

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I am still confused

- Anonymous February 6, 2018

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