mince one's words

Meanings

verbmince one's words (third-person singular simple present minces one's words, present participle mincing one's words, simple past and past participle minced one's words)

present singular third person minces one's words · participle present mincing one's words · participle past minced one's words · past minced one's words

alternativeAlternative form of mince words.
When Lil's husband got demobbed, I said— / I didn't mince my words, I said to her myself, ⁠/ Hurry up please its time
1922 October, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “Part II. A Game of Chess.”, in The Waste Land, 1st book edition, New York, N.Y.: Boni and Liveright, published December 1922, →OCLC, pages 22–23, lines 139–141
3 more examples
My Lord, I must speak out. […] No thinking man can for a moment suppose, that your Lordship's heart is very warm in the cause of a party, which—for I will not mince my words—has betrayed you.
1826, [Benjamin Disraeli], “The Receipt”, in Vivian Grey, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book II, page 100
Every one of my Committee felt proud of the determined stand of our President [Herbert Smith], who did not mince his words, but spoke straight and to the point.
[1927], A[rthur] J[ames] Cook, The Nine Days, London: […] [F]or A. J. Cook by the Co-operative Printing Society […], →OCLC, pages 18–19
Dame Naida Glavish did not mince her words when she addressed the newly elected Waitematā Local Board yesterday about the location of the National Erebus Memorial. Before a packed meeting, the fiery Dame said she supports a National Erebus Memorial – but just not in [the] proposed site of the Parnell Gardens, as it means destroying a Pohutukawa that has longer standing than the Treaty of Waitangi.
2022 November 23, Joseph Los’e, “Dame Naida Glavish doesn’t mince words about Erebus Memorial”, in Shayne Currie, editor, The New Zealand Herald, Auckland: New Zealand Media and Entertainment, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Aug 2023