as in honesty
the free expression of one's true feelings and opinions
I valued her forthrightness in telling me she didn't like being called "Susie"
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Recent Examples of forthrightness
Your forthrightness will set the tone for future dates.
—
Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 6 June 2026
There’s something both startling and seductive about such forthrightness.
—Jeremy Lybarger, Artforum, 2 June 2026
To say we are disappointed by the lack of urgency and forthrightness from the city attorney’s office is an understatement.
—City News Service, Daily News, 8 Apr. 2026
Fortune spoke with six people who have invested in Anthropic to get a sense of how this key constituency is feeling about the situation, and found that opinions were not unified despite the company’s longstanding forthrightness about its values.
—Jessica Mathews, Fortune, 5 Mar. 2026
Monique’s penchant for forthrightness, almost to the point of abruptness, is what makes her reintegration to the cast fascinating already.
—Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 24 Nov. 2025
For parents, the name of the game is forthrightness.
—Nona Han, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025
The elections have vindicated Move Forward’s forthrightness, confirming that citizens want a national conversation about the monarchy.
—Tamara Loos, Foreign Affairs, 25 May 2023
Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 6 June 2026
There’s something both startling and seductive about such forthrightness.
—Jeremy Lybarger, Artforum, 2 June 2026
To say we are disappointed by the lack of urgency and forthrightness from the city attorney’s office is an understatement.
—City News Service, Daily News, 8 Apr. 2026
Fortune spoke with six people who have invested in Anthropic to get a sense of how this key constituency is feeling about the situation, and found that opinions were not unified despite the company’s longstanding forthrightness about its values.
—Jessica Mathews, Fortune, 5 Mar. 2026
Monique’s penchant for forthrightness, almost to the point of abruptness, is what makes her reintegration to the cast fascinating already.
—Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 24 Nov. 2025
For parents, the name of the game is forthrightness.
—Nona Han, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025
The elections have vindicated Move Forward’s forthrightness, confirming that citizens want a national conversation about the monarchy.
—Tamara Loos, Foreign Affairs, 25 May 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for forthrightness
Noun
-
But others appreciated and praised her honesty.—
Lauryn Overhultz,
FOXNews.com,
17 June 2026
-
June 21 – July 22 Cancer, your values ask for brave honesty.—
Tarot.com,
Chicago Tribune,
17 June 2026
Noun
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When an audience member posed a hypothetical choice between a flawed but distinctive film and a polished but unremarkable one, Leung said either would do, arguing that cinema’s goal was sincerity, in performance or in a director’s expression, rather than polish.—
Jenny S. Li,
Variety,
20 June 2026
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Just when there are emotional moments of sincerity about healthcare denials causing bankruptcy and even death, the tone shifts with a joke about fan girls sending Mangione their underwear.—
Lorena O’Neil,
Rolling Stone,
20 June 2026
Noun
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Seydoux asks me in a moment of frankness.—
Daniel D'Addario,
Variety,
18 May 2026
-
Her love for the city is palpable, imbued with her frankness, her fun, her queerness, and her history.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But where her labelmates routinely drape their songs in warm, dense fuzz, Babuka Black opts for clarity and directness.—
Jude Noel,
Pitchfork,
19 June 2026
-
His filmmaking has a lovely, homespun directness.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
19 June 2026
Noun
-
Slot, as head coach, was more of a middle manager; someone who acted with the objectivity of a civil servant and the occasional bluntness of a corrections officer.—
Simon Hughes,
New York Times,
30 May 2026
-
Rise and fall But Healy, with her characteristic bluntness, didn’t sugar-coat what happened to that law.—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
22 May 2026
Noun
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Mary Gaitskill is particularly good at this ideal combination of straightforwardness and pithiness.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 Mar. 2026
-
Her question, in Lipe-Smith’s inquisitive piccolo of a voice, is heartbreaking in its blend of straightforwardness and desperate desire, as is her mother’s wavering response.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
1 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The unsealing of the disciplinary findings came one day after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court sharply rebuked Krasner’s office for misleading courts, withholding evidence, and violating its duty of candor in multiple efforts to overturn murder convictions.—
Kaelan Deese,
The Washington Examiner,
19 June 2026
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This kind of candor has not gone unnoticed by collaborators like Dane, who notes that there is often a kinship among actors who started out in the business at an early age.—
Max Gao,
HollywoodReporter,
17 June 2026
Noun
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Her political outspokenness and fearlessness in challenging the danger women face in flaunting their sexuality, particularly in her native Argentina, is one of her strengths, as is her ability to imagine a new world where that violence doesn’t exist.—
E.R. Pulgar,
Pitchfork,
11 June 2026
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His outspokenness has spurred discourse among country music's Republican-leaning audience.—
Mars Salazar,
Austin American Statesman,
2 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Forthrightness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forthrightness. Accessed 22 Jun. 2026.
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