bluntly
Americanadverb
-
starkly and directly, with no attempt to be tactful or diplomatic.
I always had a tendency to act in ways that are politically unwise—to bluntly say what I consider the truth.
To put it bluntly, that is a very poor piece of policy-making.
-
in a way that involves no subtlety or discernment.
It was one of those things that's so bluntly obvious, none of them really had to say anything about it.
The three-strikes law has been applied too broadly, too bluntly, with some people serving life sentences for relatively minor crimes.
-
without any sharp points or edges.
It has downy leaves and stems and small white flowers blooming in June, followed by bluntly triangular seedpods.
Etymology
Origin of bluntly
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The show’s traveling costume supervisor and associate designer Eva Maciek put it most bluntly: “I love working on it because nobody dies.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Put bluntly, they are in financial distress, they need money and they need it now.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
But when David suggests that it’s time to move on, Tina bluntly replies, “It’s not over yet.”
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
One government minister, Mike Tapp, told me bluntly he'd never met him, and "I don't know his politics".
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
American Correctional Association President Gwendolyn Chunn put the matter more bluntly that same year when lamenting that the unprecedented prison expansion boom of the 1990s seemed to be leveling off.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
