Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Plainness of speech; candor; openness; ingenuousness: as, he told me his opinion with frankness.
  • noun Liberality; bounteousness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality of being frank; candor; openess; ingenuousness; fairness; liberality.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state of being frank; candour; honesty.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the trait of being blunt and outspoken
  • noun the quality of being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

frank +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • If Ms. Gillard's frankness is any indication, that's a missed opportunity to meet an ally who understands the Afghan stakes.

    Australia Explains Afghanistan 2010

  • All this, in frankness, to show my first impression, after long denial of women in general and of Maud Brewster in particular.

    Chapter 18 2010

  • His confession, told in frankness, with the spirit of revolt behind, had repelled her.

    Chapter 19 2010

  • For, in frankness, it is not an easy thing for someone holding public office to depart in any radical sense from what appears to be the common wisdom.

    Ontario and the National Dream 1977

  • The shock aroused by his incidental frankness is travestied in H.C. Earwicker, who reproaches himself for indecent exposure.

    James Joyce 1946

  • Perfect frankness is the only possible safety for the people of our country and they realize that, and if you will remember when Mr. Roosevelt explained the reasons for closing down the banks and for keeping the bank holiday going for several days, he never promised to the people that all of them were going to get their money out of all the banks that had been closed.

    The United States Faces the Future 1933

  • There was a certain frankness about him that pleased, and though he might be spendthrift and heedless, and colossally selfish, Richard felt a genuine affection for him.

    The Black Moth: A Romance of the XVIII Century 1921

  • His confession, told in frankness, with the spirit of revolt behind, had repelled her.

    Chapter 19 1908

  • All this, in frankness, to show my first impression, after long denial, of women in general and of

    Chapter 18 1904

  • Simple, honest frankness, is the most maidenly thing in the world, when it is a woman's time to speak.

    The Old Helmet 1864

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