Quotes (“”) placed around a word or phrase to indicate it is being used ironically or in a nonstandard way:
The so-called “bedroom tax”
The so-called “Islamic State”
“Activists” were upset
Scare quotes have no place in journalism; save them for fighting on the Internet.
Twitter "confuses" Arab Spring activist Iyad El-Baghdadi for leader of Islamic State group https://t.co/Hb43BLFlk9 pic.twitter.com/tv24gIsDaQ
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 1, 2016
Part of a series on punctuation.