home truth

American  

noun

1. an indisputable fact or basic truth, especially one whose accuracy may cause discomfort or embarrassment.

---

home truth British  

noun

1. (often plural) an unpleasant fact told to a person about himself

---

home truth Idioms  

1. A key or basic truth, especially one that is discomforting to acknowledge. For example, It's time you told a few home truths here, such as where your campaign finances actually came from. This expression uses home in the sense of “the very heart of a matter.” [c. 1700]

---

Etymology

Origin of home truth

First recorded in 1705–15

Example Sentences

Margaret, who in Morgan’s hands becomes a cross between a Shakespearean fool and Billy Wilder’s faded film star, Norma Desmond, is always on hand to administer an infusion of passive-aggressive home truth.

From New York Times • Nov. 6, 2019

There is nothing more contemptible than a home truth that isn’t true.

From The Guardian • Jan. 9, 2019

This is a Houellebecq home truth, but a stale, ungenerous one—one that does not extend the same consideration that many women have undoubtedly extended his work.

From Slate • Oct. 6, 2015

The point, the subtle message of the evening, was underlining a grandmotherly home truth: You get what you pay for.

From New York Times • Sep. 6, 2012

This home truth silenced the captain for the moment, but the next instant he startled us all with an utterly inconsequent question, having no reference to what he had before been speaking of.

From The Island Treasure by Stacey, W. S. (Walter S.)