Meanings
comparative more outspoken · superlative most outspoken
- Speaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal; frank.
an outspoken man
5 more examples
an outspoken rebuke
Critics were vehemently outspoken; but while they fretted about looks, they missed the cleverer points in the design itself.
1954 November, Frank Hewitt, “The First Decade of British 4-6-0 Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 752Transmission: An Alliance officer named Major Kyle has set up a small compound in the Hawking Eta cluster. He's attracted a number of followers. Mostly biotics. Transmission: He's become an outspoken critic of the Alliance, and we believe he's mentally unstable. This could be trouble, Shepard.
2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1Safdar constantly chews a betel nut derivative, which has a stimulant effect – a common habit among drivers in Pakistan. He is outspoken and talks a million miles a minute, his rapid hand movements expressing a range of emotions.
2017 April 6, Samira Shackle, “On the frontline with Karachi’s ambulance drivers”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 14 Apr 2019The late Professor Pat White was an outspoken critic. In his 1986 book Forgotten Railways, he dismissed as smoke and mirrors the oft-used argument that 33% of rail routes carried only 1% of the traffic, as it ignores the fact that a third of the national road network also only carried 2% of cars and lorries. But unlike rail, road got away with it because no mention was made of how much it cost the taxpayer to keep them usable.
2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 53
- participlepastpast participle of outspeak.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivegiven to expressing yourself freely or insistently
adjectivecharacterized by directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From outspeak, equivalent to out- + spoken.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek παρρησιαστής
- παρρησιαστής (parrhēsiastḗs)speaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Bulgarian прям, откровен
- прям (prjam)speaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- откровен (otkroven)speaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Chinese Mandarin 直言不諱的 /直言不讳的
- 直言不諱的 /直言不讳的speaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Dutch brutaal, direct
- brutaalspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- directspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Finnish suorapuheinen, suorasanainen
- suorapuheinenspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- suorasanainenspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
French franc
- francspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
German unverblümt, nicht drumherum redend
- unverblümtspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- nicht drumherum redendspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- geradeaus sprechendspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- frank und frei redendspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Hindi मुँहफट
- मुँहफट (mũhphaṭ)speaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Hungarian szókimondó
- szókimondóspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Italian franco, sincero
- francospeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- sincerospeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Latin plāniloquus
- plāniloquusspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Māori whakatumatuma
- whakatumatumaspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Spanish franco, opinado
- francospeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- opinadospeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- abiertospeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- audazspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- valientespeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Ukrainian відве́ртий, відкри́тий
- відве́ртий (vidvértyj)speaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- відкри́тий (vidkrýtyj)speaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Welsh plaen, heb flewyn ar dafod
- plaenspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
- heb flewyn ar dafodspeaking, or spoken, freely, openly, or boldly; vocal
Cite this entry
outspoken. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outspoken
“outspoken.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outspoken. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “outspoken,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outspoken.
Source: outspoken on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.