quiet part loud
- idiom
- Informal
:
decir lo que no se dice
- When the politician admitted to favoring only wealthy donors, he really said the quiet part loud.
Examples
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It was awkward when he said the quiet part loud during the meeting, revealing what everyone was thinking.
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She accidentally said the quiet part loud by admitting the policy was meant to deter voters.
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Don't quiet part loud!
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He always manages to quiet part loud during meetings.
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It was surprising when he said the quiet part loud, making everyone uncomfortable with the truth.
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By openly discussing the budget cuts, she unintentionally said the quiet part loud in front of the team.
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When he revealed his true intentions, he clearly said the quiet part loud, leaving no doubt about his motives.
Synonyms
1
9.1
To openly say something people usually keep secret
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The overall meaning ('to state openly what is usually left unspoken') cannot be reliably derived from the literal constituents 'quiet' (not loud), 'part' (a piece), and 'loud' (high volume). The construction is idiomatic (commonly realized as 'say the quiet part out loud') and depends on pragmatic/cultural knowledge rather than straightforward compositional semantics, so a B1 learner who only knows the words would likely not infer the intended sense.
Etymology
The idiom quiet part loud comes from the image of saying the quiet part of a conversation out loud so everyone hears. That's why it means 'to say openly what people usually keep quiet'.