truth be told
17
5.6
- idiom
- Informal
:
a decir verdad
- Well, truth be told, I have bad days just like you, everybody does.
- truth be told, I never
- truth be told, though
- truth be told, sir
But also, truth be told, I was very anxious.
- But also, truth be told, I was very anxious.
- And truth be told, I never did a single sales training.
- Because truth be told, success and happiness are not the same.
- Well, truth be told, I have bad days just like you, everybody does.
- I like to scare people and I love horror, but I, but truth be told, I don't write a lot of horror.
- And most wealthy people, truth be told, and you're watching this and you might be, that's unfair.
Examples
-
I left to pursue a dream, but truth be told, I cried my eyes out the day I left.
Blog text (20) -
Because truth be told I can take any situation and just... make it worse.
-
And truth be told, I never did a single sales training.
-
Actually, truth be told, no one knows where he is right now.
-
But truth be told, it was a world, living and dead, I knew little about.
Fiction book (1998) -
But also, truth be told, I was very anxious.
-
Because truth be told, success and happiness are not the same.
-
If truth be told, he really likes only intellectual women anyway.
Fiction book (1991) -
Truth be told, I don't understand a word of this thing.
-
Truth be told, I never did a single sales training.
Synonyms
∞
3.2
In an honest and direct way that may upset or surprise
691
1.1
Said when you want to stress that you really mean what you say
227
4.5
Say you are being honest before you speak
221
2.3
To show you are telling the truth or how you really feel
48
3.2
To say something that is true even if it is surprising
28
4.1
In an honest, direct way without hiding your true thoughts
24
8.3
A phrase that shows the next thing you say is honest
17
3.7
To tell the truth to show you really mean it
To say firmly that what you say is true
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'truth be told' literally communicates that the truth is being told, functioning as a discourse marker meaning 'to be honest' or 'frankly'. A B1 learner who knows 'truth', 'be' and 'tell/told' can readily infer this meaning because it is compositionally derived and mirrors equivalent honest-marking constructions in many languages.
Etymology
Truth be told comes from an older way to say truth should be told, like the phrase 'if the truth is told' used to open an honest remark. So people use it today to mean 'to be honest' before saying something a little awkward.