adjective
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telling or expressing the truth; honest or candid
-
realistic
a truthful portrayal of the king
Other Word Forms
- overtruthful adjective
- overtruthfully adverb
- overtruthfulness noun
- quasi-truthful adjective
- quasi-truthfully adverb
- semitruthful adjective
- semitruthfully adverb
- semitruthfulness noun
- truthfully adverb
- truthfulness noun
Etymology
Origin of truthful
Explanation
Truthful means honest or believable. A truthful answer to a question doesn't mince words—it is completely straightforward and accurate. If your little sister asks you whether the Tooth Fairy is real, you'll have to consider how truthful you want to be. You can think about whether the truthful answer will be to upsetting for her, since you're not under oath in a courtroom, where you're legally obligated to be truthful. A now-obsolete adjective with the same meaning was truthy, "characterized by truth."
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.
In a recent interview, Ortiz said he chose not to inform police because he hadn’t believed that Hatley was being truthful.
From Slate • Apr. 6, 2026
"Of course her work is going to be truthful."
From Barron's • Mar. 5, 2026
"To be truthful, he was extremely talented, but not enough to shut us up."
From BBC • Mar. 3, 2026
“Labor markets cannot function efficiently without truthful and non-misleading information about earnings and other material terms,” said Christopher Mufarrige, the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection director.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026
The soul, fortunately, has an interpreter—often an unconscious, but still a truthful interpreter—in the eye.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
