truth-telling

English

Alternative forms

• truthtelling

Etymology

From truth +‎ telling.

Noun

truth-telling (uncountable)

1. The act of telling the truth.
   • 2022 November 19, Clarence Page, “Sometimes offensive comedy is just lazy laughs”, in Chicago Tribune‎^[1]:

     Or would he sharpen his rapier wit enough to do what I think he does best: hilarious social-political truth-telling that hits its targets and avoids the punching-down cheap shots against groups that are least able to defend themselves — such as transgender folks, the target that sparked protests?

Related terms

• tell the truth
• truthteller

 

Adjective

truth-telling (comparative more truth-telling, superlative most truth-telling)

1. Telling the truth; honest, frank.
   • 2022 May 30, Thomas Mallon, “When Barbara Pym Couldn’t Get Published”, in The New Yorker‎^[2]:

     Each self-denying single woman, like the heroine of “Some Tame Gazelle,” Pym’s first novel, is deemed “fortunate in needing very little to make her happy,” though the blunt, truthtelling housekeeper generally knows better.