Look up per se in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

per se (also misspelled as "per say", "persay" or "persai"):

• A Latin phrase used in English arguments for "by itself" or "by themselves"

It also is used in law:

• Illegal per se, the legal usage of "per se" in criminal and anti-trust law
• Negligence per se, legal use in tort law

Other uses:

• Per se (restaurant), a New York City restaurant run by Thomas Keller

Not to be confused with legal self-representation pro se legal representation in the United States

[edit] Example

"Gun ownership in Japan is not, per se, illegal; however, the restrictions are such that one could easily arrive at that conclusion."

"Data trustworthiness should be attributed primarily to data per se, rather than being merely a reflection of the trust attributed to data-reporting entities."

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