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]

---

Example Sentences

A "warts and all" assessment of the impact of the North Coast 500 road trip has been ordered amid concerns about overtourism.

From BBC

Mr Pettigrew said he welcomed the NC500 Ltd impact study "so long as it is warts and all" but said it was 10 years too late.

From BBC

Our cities remain rich places, warts and all.

From Los Angeles Times

And though the book has its shortcomings, he rightly sees the movie as a kind of passkey into the history of the first half-century of Hollywood itself, warts and all.

From Los Angeles Times

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

Related Words

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