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Glite Dictionary
unvarnished opinion

unvarnished opinion

1 6.1
A very honest and direct view that does not try to sound nicer
  • noun
translation icon : opinión sincera
  • Whenever you ask for an unvarnished opinion, prepare yourself for absolute honesty.

Examples

  • The critic's unvarnished opinion of the movie left many fans shocked, as he pointed out its numerous flaws.

  • Journalists are expected to provide the public with the unvarnished opinion on important issues.

  • She appreciated his unvarnished opinion about her performance, even though it was hard to hear.

  • I appreciate your unvarnished opinion on the project.

  • Can you give me your unvarnished opinion about the movie?

  • During the team meeting, she shared her unvarnished opinion about the project, sparking a lively discussion.

  • In her blog, the author gives her unvarnished opinion on the latest trends in fashion without sugarcoating her views.

Synonyms

opinion
vsunvarnished opinion
∞ 1.0

A person's view about something

is a frank direct statement that avoids softening views

How Direct

bluntness
6 4.8
unvarnished opinion
1 6.1

Surface Forms

unvarnished opinion singular
unvarnished opinions plural

Morphology

unvarnished + opinion

The phrase is directly compositional: 'unvarnished' means without polishing or embellishment and combined with 'opinion' yields an honest, direct view. This meaning follows a straightforward semantic composition (negation/absence + noun) and is cross-linguistically predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to derive it.

Etymology

The phrase unvarnished opinion comes from the image of wood with no varnish. Varnish covers and smooths wood to hide rough parts, so an unvarnished opinion is plain and not made nicer — it means 'honest and direct'.