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inverted comma [countable usually plural] British English
1 one of a pair of marks (") that are put at the beginning and end of a written word, sentence etc to show that someone said it or wrote it, or when writing the title of a book, song etc [= quotation mark] ➔ punctuation mark
2 used to show that a word you are using to describe something is only what it is usually called, and not what you think it really is : 
Her friends, in inverted commas, all disappeared when she was in trouble.
in inverted commas
spoken
Her friends, in inverted commas, all disappeared when she was in trouble.