Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

truth be told

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.92 in modern English

Syllables: truth be -told
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

2

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

intj

Used when admitting something one might otherwise lie about, e.g. to keep up appearances or be polite.

Example Sentences

"I'm not sure if I can do this, truth be told."
"Actually, truth be told, I just don't like you."
"Well, certainly there are those who are more responsible than others - and they will be held accountable - but again, truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror."
"When I opened my laptop on Tuesday to take my first run at GPT-4, the new artificial intelligence language model from OpenAI, I was, truth be told, a little nervous."

Etymology

Ellipsis of if the truth should be told.

Inflected Forms

if truth be told (alternative)

Synonyms

admittedly frankly to be honest to tell the truth truth to tell

Questions

What does truth be told mean?: Used when admitting something one might otherwise lie about, e.g. to keep up appearances or be polite.
Where does truth be told come from?: Ellipsis of if the truth should be told.

How to pronounce truth be told

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “truth be told”.
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