Wise rate, so to speak (2,2,4)
I believe the answer is:
as it were
'so to speak' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'wise rate' is the wordplay.
'wise rate' can be anagrammed to 'AS IT WERE'.
Though, I'm not sure how this is indicated.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for as it were that I've seen before include "you may say" , "Historically ungrammatical" , "In a kind of way" , "In sort of" , "you might say" .)