in a manner of speaking

Although they’re scattered now, their lodgings temporary and their futures uncertain, they wanted to keep the neighborhood together, in a manner of speaking.

And, in a manner of speaking, the government has collapsed.

“I think my captors fear my meager magic, dear. Iron dries out one’s magical wellspring, in a manner of speaking. By forcing me to wear these boots, they have made me quite powerless.”

“She does and she doesn’t. To royalty, all the rest of the world are rodents in a manner of speaking. As for her lady-in-waiting, Lady Augusta Drear, she is mortally afraid of mice. And so I must exercise all my tact as I go about my duties.”

Except that, in the next month, the Rosetta Stone is returning home — in a manner of speaking.