Citations:per se

English sense: as such

• a. 1998, anonymous conversationalists, quoted in, 1998, Tom Chiarella, Writing Dialogue, Story Press, →ISBN, page 12:

  I take photographs. But I'm not a photographer.

  Per se.

  Right. Not per se.

  Right.

• 2003, Laura Lippman, Every Secret Thing, Avon, →ISBN, page 309:

  Once the state police made it clear that they did not believe his story […] the boy was asked why he had done it.

  "I'm not sure," he answered with a small sigh. "I didn't really have a plan per se."

• 2008, Jesse Kellerman, The Genius, Putnam, →ISBN, page 54:

  I spooled out a lot of textbook stuff on Jean Dubuffet, Art Brut, the anticultural movement. "Usually we're referring to work created by prisoners, children, and the insane, and I'm not sure that Cracke was any of those, per se."

• 2008, Joe McGinniss, Jr., The Delivery Man, Grove/Atlantic, →ISBN, page 18:

  But she still has weekly appointments with the woman who helped her make the decision about the Summerlin house, and who Michelle insists is not an astrologer per se and who she strongly suggests Chase meet because—like Michelle—his Saturn will be in return soon, too, and that may explain a lot.

Dutch sense: necessarily, absolutely, without fail

• Er hoeft niet per se technisch bewijs te zijn om een verdachte veroordeeld te krijgen.
• Jon Hamm vindt het niet "per se noodzakelijk" dat hij nog kinderen krijgt.