warts and all

Idioms  

1. Including all blemishes, faults, and shortcomings, as in Rather unwisely, they decided to buy the house, warts and all. This expression supposedly alludes to Oliver Cromwell's instruction to portrait painter Sir Peter Lely to “remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me, otherwise I will never pay a farthing for it.” [First half of 1600s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

warts and all

For Hartnett, shading in a complete picture, warts and all, is essential to making a character believable.

From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026

Having spent nearly 50 years telling America’s stories, warts and all, Ken Burns knows better than to traffic in the reassurance business.

From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2025

It is my job to try to bring you as clear a sense as I can of what is really going on at the heart of government, warts and all.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2024

Some see Crowther as an unfairly maligned man of his time, and his effigy as an important part of the state’s history, warts and all.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2024

Cromwell asked the painter to paint him, "warts and all."

From Fragments From France by Bruce Bairnsfather

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Related Words

• blatantly
• brazenly
• candidly
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• honestly
• plainly
• publicly
• readily
• simply
• unabashedly
• unashamedly
• willingly

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