Question

per se He claims that the reason for the invasion wasn't oil per se, but rather the country's dangerous military power, which had been made possible by its oil. pər seɪ

Accepted Answer

By, of, or in itself; as such. We generally use per se to distinguish between something in its narrow sense and some larger thing that it represents. Thus, you may have no objection to educational testing per se, but rather to the way testing is done. An opposition party may attack a president's policy not because they dislike the policy per se but because they want to weaken the president. And when New York's police chief decided to crack down on small crimes, it wasn't the small crimes per se that were his target, but instead the larger crimes which he believed would be reduced because of this new approach.

word	per se
definition	By, of, or in itself; as such.
eg_sentence	He claims that the reason for the invasion wasn't oil per se, but rather the country's dangerous military power, which had been made possible by its oil.
explanation	We generally use per se to distinguish between something in its narrow sense and some larger thing that it represents. Thus, you may have no objection to educational testing per se, but rather to the way testing is done. An opposition party may attack a president's policy not because they dislike the policy per se but because they want to weaken the president. And when New York's police chief decided to crack down on small crimes, it wasn't the small crimes per se that were his target, but instead the larger crimes which he believed would be reduced because of this new approach.
IPA	pər seɪ

Se Larger Testing Policy Small Crimes Claims Reason