n.
Pronunciation: ' s ō , esp before adj or adv followed by “ that ” s ə
Function: adverb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English sw ā ; akin to Old High German s ō so, Latin sic so, thus, si if, Greek h ō s so, thus, Latin suus one's own ― more at SUICIDE
Date: before 12th century
1 a : in a manner or way indicated or suggested <do you really think so > ― often used as a substitute for a preceding clause <are you ready? I think so > <I didn't like it and I told her so > b : in the same manner or way : ALSO <worked hard and so did she> c : THUS 1 <for so the Lord said ― Isa 18:4(AV)> d : THEN , SUBSEQUENTLY <and so home and to bed>
2 a : to an indicated or suggested extent or degree <had never been so happy> b : to a great extent or degree : VERY , EXTREMELY <loves her so > c : to a definite but unspecified extent or degree <can only do so much in a day> d : most certainly : INDEED <you did so do it> e : most decidedly : SURELY <I so don't believe you>
3 : THEREFORE , CONSEQUENTLY <the witness is biased and so unreliable>
usage The intensive use of so (sense 2b) is widely condemned in college handbooks but is nonetheless standard <why is American television so shallow? ― Anthony Lewis> <the cephalopod eye is an example of a remarkable evolutionary parallel because it is so like the eye of a vertebrate ― Sarah F. Robbins> <the kind of sterile over-ingenuity which afflicts so many academic efforts ― Times Lit. Supp. >. There is no stigma attached to its use in negative contexts and when qualified by a dependent clause <not so long ago> <was so good in mathematics that he began to consider engineering ― Current Biog. >. The denotation in these uses is, of course, slightly different (see sense 2a). Another emphatic use of so (sense 2e) has developed more recently and occurs mostly in informal contexts.