honest truth
What actually happened
The honest truth is an emphatic way of saying the truth, stressing sincerity and completeness.
The phrase acknowledges that people sometimes shade or soften what they say: The honest truth is I never liked him.
It often introduces confessions or blunt assessments the speaker might otherwise hold back.
- candidHonest and direct
- sincereGenuinely felt, not feigned
- genuineTruly what it claims
- straight shooterForthright, blunt person
- rawIn original state
blunt · tell it like it is · no holds barred · frank · unvarnished · real · naked · bare · nothing but · confession · revelation · straight · plain · reality · authentic · transparent · brutal · harsh
- Candor Phrasesfrankly, speaking frankly, candor, straight up, admittedly
- Redundanciestautology, pleonasm, redundancy, redundant phrase, added bonus
- truthstruths, facts, fact, reality, verity
- innocenceinnocent, innocence, purity, pure, blameless
honest truthbald-faced lie
Shameless, obvious untruth
fabrication · untruth · falsehood · deception · lie
honest truthhalf-truth
Deceptive incomplete statement
partial truth · cover-up · whitewash · evasion · concealment
honest truthpropaganda
Biased information for influence
manipulation · gaslighting · con · fraud · duplicity
honest, truth, honesty, honestly, dishonest, dishonesty, true, untrue, truthful