downright
Americanadjective
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thorough; absolute; out-and-out.
a downright falsehood.
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frankly direct; straightforward.
a downright person.
- Synonyms:
- blunt, frank, open, forthright, candid
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Archaic. directed straight downward.
a downright blow.
adverb
adjective
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frank or straightforward; blunt
downright speech
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archaic directed or pointing straight down
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of downright
Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; see origin at down 1, right
Explanation
The adjective downright is used to emphasize something, or to mean "utterly." For example, you could say that your brother's loud and junky old car is a downright embarrassment. Downright works as an adjective or adverb, so you can describe your dad's brownies as downright delicious, your sister's terrible jokes as downright awful, or your loss of the spelling bee as a downright disgrace. In the thirteenth century, downright meant "straight down," but it had changed by 1300, to instead mean "thoroughly."
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.
"I've gotten used to it, but before, at the beginning, it was downright stressful."
From Barron's • May 25, 2026
So if you — like many in the financial media — are worried about private credit, you should be downright frightened by private equity.
From MarketWatch • May 22, 2026
"I think some of some of the discussion I've seen has veered between outright snobbery and just downright unpleasant, a bit of kill joy attitude, you know, there's enough doom and gloom in the world."
From BBC • May 20, 2026
Diamond wrote this waltz-time weeper with Carole Bayer Sager, who beat him to the punch with her own recording; his version is haunted, hers downright macabre.
From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026
At first, headstrong, talented Lilya Litvyak downright refused to get her hair cut.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
