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"

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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

Responding with curiosity instead of immediate defensiveness teaches people that honesty is useful rather than dangerous.

— Kristina Aran, Forbes.com, 23 Sep. 2026
Thrown together with him again, Billie has to confront the honesty and the deception that brought their relationship to an end.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of honesty

Noun

Cox’s script, meanwhile, trades increasingly in one-size-fits-all therapy speak, and despite Qualley’s natural sincerity as a performer, Maya seems steadily less specific a personality as the years pass.

— Guy Lodge, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026
Like Warhol, Rouy makes work balancing on the razor’s edge between sincerity and cynicism.

— David Lê, Curbed, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of sincerity

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

Rather than writing traditional Broadway show tunes, Sheik and Sater created a rock score that drew on the emotional directness of alternative music.

— SPIN Staff, SPIN, 18 Sep. 2026
Palace missed Sarr’s directness, with summer signing Dwight McNeil, Eddie Nketiah and Mateta not showing a full understanding.

— Matt Woosnam, New York Times, 23 Aug. 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

But the Windows handheld software experience on the Claw is just awful compared to the straightforwardness of SteamOS on the Steam Deck.

— Jay Peters, The Verge, 23 June 2026
On Monday morning, Starmer, whose resignation has appeared inevitable for some time, delivered the news with his customary straightforwardness.

— Sam Knight, New Yorker, 22 June 2026

Definition of straightforwardness

Noun

But none have had the kind of folksy humor and candor that can draw hordes of investors each year, like those attending Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting.

— Josh Funk, Fortune, 19 Sep. 2026
But none have had the kind of folksy humor and candor that can draw hordes of investors each year, like those attending Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting.

— ABC News, ABC News, 19 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

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forthrightly

forthrightness

forthwith

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“Forthrightness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forthrightness. Accessed 25 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of forthrightness

noun

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