as in honesty
the free expression of one's true feelings and opinions
not all of her voice students appreciate the straightforwardness with which she tells them that they're not going to make it as professional singers
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Recent Examples of straightforwardness
Mary Gaitskill is particularly good at this ideal combination of straightforwardness and pithiness.
—
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for straightforwardness
Noun
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Blunt honesty had clicked with a relentless desire for improvement, launching a professional partnership and personal friendship that greatly enriched the careers of both men and, in time, would meaningfully alter the course of Chelsea history.
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What drew him to the exchange wasn’t controversy, but honesty.
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.
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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.
Noun
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But where her labelmates routinely drape their songs in warm, dense fuzz, Babuka Black opts for clarity and directness.
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His filmmaking has a lovely, homespun directness.
Noun
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Seydoux asks me in a moment of frankness.
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Her love for the city is palpable, imbued with her frankness, her fun, her queerness, and her history.
Noun
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Your forthrightness will set the tone for future dates.
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There’s something both startling and seductive about such forthrightness.
Noun
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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.
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Rise and fall But Healy, with her characteristic bluntness, didn’t sugar-coat what happened to that law.
Cite this Entry
“Straightforwardness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/straightforwardness. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
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