Truthful, Sincere, Honest, Frank, Straightforward, Blunt and Direct

Hello everyone! Welcome to Fransy Fancy English. What does honesty and sincerity mean to you? Is you friend frank or blunt? Is your boss truthful or direct? Let's explore the differences so that you can use these words correctly and be accurate in your descriptions.

Truthful

Being honest means not telling lies. Being truthful means actively making known all the full truth of a matter. Lawyers must be honest, but they do not have to be truthful. A criminal defense lawyer, for example, in zealously defending a client, has no obligation to actively present the truth. Counsel may not deliberately mislead the court, but has no obligation to tell the defendant’s whole story.

"I want a truthful answer."

"She gave truthful testimony."

Sincere

Sincerity is doing an action or feeling a certain way and truly meaning it. Being genuine and truly caring. A sincere person says or does something with good intentions.  

Sincere Person: "You hair look nice. This hair color suits you!"

Receiver: "Are you being sarcastic?"

Sincere Person: "No! I was being sincere." (you were really trying to compliment them)

Honest

An honest person always tells the truth. It can also mean that a person never cheats in business dealings, and is generally a person of integrity. Teachers and doctors must be honest because a mistake in these professions may have a huge consequence. The adjective straight is an informal alternative to honest. 

"I can’t help you if you’re not straight with me."

 "I need a straight answer."

Person A: "I’m going to ask you something, and I want you to be honest with me."

Honest person: "To be honest, I didn’t think your singing was very good." 

Person A: "Thank you very much for being frank and honest without being cruel."

COLLOCATIONS

You are honest with somebody.

You are honest about something.

You can give an honest answer to a difficult question, like this one:

WOMAN: Where were you last night?

HONEST MAN: At another's woman house. 😬

Frank

If someone speaks in a 'frank' way, they say something truthful that customarily people would not say and it can occasionally be hurtful.

Woman: "Do I look fat in these jeans?" 

Polite answer: "No, dear, you look wonderful." 

Frank answer: "Actually, you do. You're just a little chubby and these jeans emphasize it.

To be frank

"To be frank, those shoes are prehistoric."

To be honest (used for emphasizing that what you are saying is the truth and not a joke)

"To be honest, I’m not really interested in politics."

COLLOCATIONS

You are frank with somebody.

You are frank about something.

Straightforward 

Straightforward tends to describe a person's speaking style and even their nature. A straightforward person doesn't beat around the bush and waste your time to ask you something, they just ask. 

Straightforward person: "Want to get married?"

"Men are intensely straightforward and logical beings."

Blunt (negative connotation)

Blunt people are direct, they say whatever is on their mind even if it's considered rude by societal standards. They're insensitive to the feelings of the person they're are speaking to and they might offend or upset others. They tell it straight. 

Person A: "Damn, I guess that was pretty blunt how you told that girl you didn't want to go out with her."

Blunt person: "Who gives a fuck? It was online anyway."

"She was brutally blunt, though not intentionally."

"They just don’t like you," he told me bluntly.

"Sorry if I was a bit blunt with you."

"She didn’t reply and I knew I had been too blunt."

To put it bluntly (=used when saying something honest that may offend people)

"To put it bluntly, you are not pretty enough to be a movie star."

Direct

If you are direct, you say exactly what you think in an honest and clear way, even when this might annoy or upset people. The difference between being direct and being blunt is that you can be direct and remain respectful as opposed to being blunt, which lacks consideration or regard for the feelings of others. Being direct is sometimes considered positive but sometimes it is used as a ‘polite’ way of saying that somebody is rude.

"Not everyone liked his direct manner. She can be very direct."

"Their message is simple and direct: smoking kills."

I hope I have somehow cleared the air about the nuances of these adjectives. Did you find this article useful? What other ideas can you add to this list that I may have not mentioned?

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