FORTHRIGHTNESS Synonyms: 46 Similar and Opposite Words

forthrightness

noun

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"

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 forthrightness Alvarado has had to address that in the wake of the film’s release, and perhaps that forthrightness has aided the box office. — Brian Welk, IndieWire, 22 July 2026 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for forthrightness

Noun

By sharing their journeys with such honesty and courage, Dec, Dan and Saskia revealed the reality of rebuilding a life after stroke, and the truth behind the long and unforgiving journey to reclaim the right to live an independent life.

— Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 30 Sep. 2026
If fans delighted in Newport’s honesty in the past, season seven can only raise her stock further.

— Brian Moylan, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2026

Definition of honesty

Noun

The novel, published in 1988, foreshadowed the career to come by taking on, with disarming frankness, everything from child abuse to transracial adoption.

— Casey Cep, New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2026
Horgan, whose Catastrophe charted the ups and downs of a relationship with painful, hilarious honesty, applies the same frankness to the minor indignities of midlife.

— Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 18 Sep. 2026

Definition of frankness

Noun

These poems are made with some of the simplicity and directness of a song.

— Colm Tóibín, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026
In their directness and simplicity, Laffont’s photos evoke the style-forward photographs that Malick Sidibé was taking in Mali at that same time.

— Lucy Sante, Vanity Fair, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of directness

Noun

What Premier League clubs have shifted away from is — and apologies for the bluntness here — tolerating goalkeepers who aren’t good enough at saving shots.

— Michael Cox, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026
The Venezuela native never shied away from bluntness — and profanity — in assessing players, plays, games or whatever.

— CBS News, CBS News, 9 Aug. 2026

Definition of bluntness

Noun

Their impressiveness came from their straightforwardness, their precision and generosity of flavor, without needless curlicues or misguided deconstruction.

— Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2026
What is genuinely remarkable, though, is that this meteoric machine drives with the straightforwardness of a Toyota Camry.

— Sean Evans, Robb Report, 26 Sep. 2026

Definition of straightforwardness

Noun

Across hours of interviews, Kirk spoke with remarkable candor about the most intimate details of her husband’s death.

— Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 29 Sep. 2026
This effort succeeded, Glass said, despite the exhibit’s candor about the darker elements of the nation’s military history.

— Alec MacGillis, ProPublica, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of candor

Noun

His father’s boss and mentor, the reformer Hu Yaobang, whose death in 1989 sparked the protests in Tiananmen Square, was known for his outspokenness, which played a crucial role in his political demise.

— Jonathan A. Czin, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2026
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

Definition of outspokenness

Browse Nearby Words

forthrightly

forthrightness

forthwith

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Forthrightness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forthrightness. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of forthrightness

noun

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

adventitious

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 2

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes