BALDLY Synonyms: 55 Similar and Opposite Words

baldly

adverb

Definition of baldly

as in openly

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of baldly Evil Dead Burn isn’t as baldly hateful toward women as the hypersuccessful, low budget Obsession. — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 10 July 2026 Pinney’s fantasies and visual metaphors are sometimes more poignant in concept than in execution, and a theme of Ray’s crude racist impulses is baldly inserted but left undeveloped. — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 12 June 2026 My job, bluntly, was to spy, but to do it in a way that wasn’t baldly obvious either. — Literary Hub, 11 Mar. 2026 Nobody in the administration has said so baldly. — Andreas Kluth, Mercury News, 28 Feb. 2026 If the baldly stated white supremacism that now fills up my X feed is any guide, that reborn entity drank lots of raw milk and grew up with strong bones and teeth. — Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 1 Feb. 2026 The heartfelt book sees Myers looking back on awkward moments from her own life in her signature laugh-out-loud, baldly honest prose. — Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 30 Dec. 2025 The state would wield a deleterious influence on public education, with a rounded civic understanding of Israeli democracy replaced by a more baldly nationalist and illiberal one. — Ilan Z. Baron, Foreign Affairs, 12 Aug. 2024

Recent Examples of Synonyms for baldly

Adverb

He’s been praised openly by his fellow receivers, cornerback Jaycee Horn and head coach Dave Canales over the past few days.

— Mike Kaye July 31, Charlotte Observer, 31 July 2026
Spain has been openly pro-immigration even as some of its neighbors have pursued stricter policies.

— Yuliya Talmazan, NBC news, 31 July 2026

Definition of openly

Adverb

The New York Mets, according to multiple league sources who were granted anonymity to speak candidly, have also called pitches from the dugout.

— Spencer Nusbaum, New York Times, 22 July 2026
Twain's family struggled financially, and the singer has spoken candidly about growing up in poverty and witnessing domestic abuse at home.

— Ashley Hume, FOXNews.com, 21 July 2026

Definition of candidly

Adverb

His family immigrated to New York in the Ellis Island era a little over 100 years ago and, frankly, nobody wanted to hire them.

— Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 2 Aug. 2026
Have any of you guys been haunted by the frankly upsetting scene in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey in which Circe cooks what can only be described as a very messed up stew?

— Sam Stone, Bon Appetit Magazine, 31 July 2026

Definition of frankly

Adverb

Leaders must honestly review past performance, confronting uncomfortable truths rather than defending old decisions.

— Dev Patnaik, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026
The historian Eugen Weber wrote influentially of how peasants who spoke languages like Occitan, Breton, or Basque became—or, more honestly, were made—Frenchmen.

— Nikhil Krishnan, New Yorker, 20 July 2026

Definition of honestly

Adverb

Now, fresh off one of the most straightforwardly terrible albums of the decade, here comes the Muse Mothership again.

— Liam Inscoe-Jones, Pitchfork, 1 July 2026
Perhaps the cleanest rebuke of noisy nativism would be for England to win, and, if Tuchel can take that final step that eluded Southgate, he’ll be immortalized, too—perhaps in a prestige miniseries of his own, and a more straightforwardly triumphal one at that.

— Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 18 June 2026

Definition of straightforwardly

Adverb

Foley has been the one board member who has forthrightly stood up for oversight and accountability on every key issue.

— The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 16 Apr. 2026
Coming off the ice, Malinin forthrightly congratulated the winner, Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, as if to communicate that Shaidorov won the prize from his own efforts, not from Malinin’s failure.

— Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 19 Feb. 2026

Definition of forthrightly

Adverb

Not the layoffs, the mergers, the rampant unemployment, and the fear that comes with it — all of that and more unreservedly sucks.

— Dana Harris-Bridson, IndieWire, 9 July 2026
At once pugnaciously combative and unreservedly sentimental, Landon chose to take the series out with a commentary on class revolt.

— Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 3 July 2026

Definition of unreservedly

Browse Nearby Words

bald-faced

baldly

baldric

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“Baldly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/baldly. Accessed 4 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of baldly

adverb

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