truth be told

English

Alternative forms

• if truth be told

Etymology

Ellipsis of if the truth should be told.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Interjection

truth be told

1. (idiomatic) Used when admitting something one might otherwise lie about, e.g. to keep up appearances or be polite.

   Synonyms: admittedly, frankly, to be honest, to tell the truth, truth to tell; see also Thesaurus:actually

   I'm not sure if I can do this, truth be told.

   Actually, truth be told, I just don't like you.

   • 2006, V For Vendetta (movie adaptation)

     Well, certainly there are those who are more responsible than others - and they will be held accountable - but again, truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

   • 2023 March 15, Kevin Roose, “GPT-4 Is Exciting and Scary”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     When I opened my laptop on Tuesday to take my first run at GPT-4, the new artificial intelligence language model from OpenAI, I was, truth be told, a little nervous.

Translations

when admitting something one might otherwise lie about

• Czech: popravdě řečeno
• Dutch: eerlijk gezegd
• Finnish: totta puhuen, toden sanoakseni, totta puhuakseni, rehellisesti sanottuna
• French: pour être honnête
• German: ehrlich gesagt (de), in Wahrheit, um ehrlich zu sein
• Hungarian: az igazat megvallva
• Italian: a dire il vero, a onor del vero
• Odia: ସତ କହିବାକୁ ଗଲେ (sata kahibāku gale)
• Polish: prawdę mówiąc (pl)
• Portuguese: verdade seja dita, para falar a verdade, para ser sincero m
• Romanian: adevărul fie spus
• Russian: е́сли че́стно (jésli čéstno), что греха́ таи́ть (ru) (što grexá taítʹ) (colloquial)
• Slovak: pravdu povediac
• Spanish: la verdad sea dicha, a decir verdad, en puridad
• Turkish: doğrusunu söylemek gerekirse
• Ukrainian: пра́вду ка́жучи (právdu kážučy)

Further reading

• “truth be told”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.