frankly

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From frank +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈfɹæŋkli/
  • Hyphenation: frank‧ly
  • (file)

Adverb[edit]

frankly (comparative franklier or more frankly, superlative frankliest or most frankly)

  1. In a frank or candid manner, especially in a way that may seem too open, excessively honest, or slightly blunt.
    speak frankly
    He spoke frankly about the economy.
    • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, →OCLC:
      She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had thought to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
  2. (sentence adverb) In truth, to tell the truth.
    Most of what they said was, frankly, a pack of lies.
    • 1939, Gone with the Wind[1], spoken by Rhett Butler (Clark Gable):
      Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
  3. (sciences, medicine) To a degree large enough as to be plainly evident.
    Coordinate terms: evidently, obviously, apparently, macroscopically, grossly, greatly, palpably
    frankly septic
    frankly psychotic

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]