Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Point-blank |
Point-blankAdjective1. Characterized by disconcerting directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion; "blunt talking and straight shooting"; "a blunt New England farmer"; "I gave them my candid opinion"; "forthright criticism"; "a forthright approach to the problem"; "tell me what you think--and you may just as well be frank"; "it is possible to be outspoken without being rude"; "plainspoken and to the point"; "a point-blank accusation". 2. Close enough to go straight to the target; "point-blank range"; "a point-blank shot". Adverb1. In a direct and unequivocal manner; "I asked him point-blank whether he wanted the job". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "point-blank" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1796. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Literature | Point-blank Direct. A term in gunnery; when a cannon is so placed that the line of sight is parallel to the axis and horizontal, the discharge is point-blank, and is supposed to go direct to the object without a curve. In French point blanc is the white mark or bull's eye of a target, to hit which the ball or arrow must not deviate in the least from the exact path. "Now art thou within point-blank of our jurisdiction regal."- Shakespeare: 2 Henry VI., iv. 7. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: Point-blankSynonyms: blunt (adj), candid (adj), forthright (adj), frank (adj), free-spoken (adj), outspoken (adj), plainspoken (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Plainness | Adverb: in plain terms, in plain words, in plain English, in plain common parlance; point-blank. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Point-blank |
| English words defined with "point-blank": blunt ♦ candid ♦ forthright, frank, free-spoken ♦ Horizontal fire ♦ outspoken ♦ plainspoken, Point-blank range, Point-blank shot. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "point-blank": Hermetic Powder. (references) |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | US tank destroyer M36 fires its 90mm gun point-blank at a Nazi pillbox emplacement to clear a path through a side street in Brest, France. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Human Rights | Central African Republic | L'Hommee was shot at point-blank range in the chest as he left his car to respond to a request for assistance from a local UNDP employee whose residence reportedly was under siege by criminal elements. (references) |
Brazil | The ISER report also stated that Rio de Janeiro police killed half of their victims with 4 or more bullets and shot the majority of victims in either the shoulder or the head; 40 cases clearly demonstrated execution-style deaths, in which police first immobilized the victims and then shot them at point-blank range. (references) | |
Bangladesh | Members of Hossain's entourage then shot at point-blank range one of the men, BNP activist Sajal Chowdhury, who subsequently died; the other person was beaten. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Point-blank" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.39% of the time. "Point-blank" is used about 62 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 98.39% | 61 | 43,149 |
| Noun (singular) | 1.61% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 62 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
1. Pointblank, TX |
| Language | Translations for "point-blank"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 点空白. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | kereken (bluntly, flat, in so many words, plainly, point blank, roundly), kategorikus (categorical), közvetlen lőtávolságban, közvetlen közelről leadott, félreérthetetlenül (emphatically, explicitly, pointedly, unmistakably), egyenesen (above board, bolt upright, by line and level, direct, directly, erect, forthrightly, in true, on the level, outright, plump, straight, straight/direct, straight/directly, through, upright, uprightly), őszinte (aboveboard, disarming, expansive, guileless, hearty, outright, plain answer, sincere, solid, square-shooter, to be plain with sy, transparent). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | も無い (curt), もない (curt), 単刀直入 (frankness, going right to the point, without beating about the bush). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | た"とうちょくにゅう (frankness, going right to the point, without beating about the bush), にべもない (curt). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 소 공백. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | jeeragh (candid, direct; erect, downright, due, fair and square, faithful; just, forthcoming, frank, honest, lineal; sincere, outright, outspoken, partly done, plumb, rigid, straight, straight ahead, straightforward, strict, true, undeviating, unequivocal, unerring), fo beeal gunn, dy bollagh (absolutely, clean, quite, thoroughly, wholly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | oint-blankpay решительный (categorical, crisp, decided, decisive, determinate, determined, drastic, emphatic, fateful, forceful, manful, plump, point blank, purposive, resolute, resolved, strong-willed, sweeping, unflinching, unhesitating). (various references) rakt på sak (bald, baldly, directly, head on, point blank). (various references) kesinlikle reddetmek (refuse point-blank). (various references) nhắm thẳng. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-i-k-l-n-n-o-p-t" | |
-2 letters: plankton. | |
-3 letters: antlion, inkblot, pintano. | |
-4 letters: albino, anoint, bonita, inkpot, kaolin, kation, latino, napkin, nation, obtain, pinnal, plaint, pliant, pontil, talion. | |
-5 letters: aboil, aloin, anion, batik, baton, binal, biont, biota, blain, blank, blink, bloat, inapt, kibla, lapin, niton, nopal, notal, okapi, paint, panto, patin, patio, piano, pibal, pilot, pinko, pinna, pinon, pinot, pinta, pinto. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 6F 69 6E 74 2D 62 6C 61 6E 6B |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010000 01101111 01101001 01101110 01110100 00101101 01100010 01101100 01100001 01101110 01101011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)P o i n t - b l a n k |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0050 006F 0069 006E 0074 002D 0062 006C 0061 006E 006B |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5081758086156878678077 |
| Language | Coverage | Language Translations |
Chinese | 字典 , 定義 , 定义, 翻译 | 汉语, 中 , 漢 , 中國 , kínai, チフス菌 , チャイニーズ , 중국, Sheenish, Sheenagh, китайский, китаец, kinesisk, çinli, çince, çin ile ilgili, çin |
Hungarian | szótár, meghatározás, definíció, fordítás | 匈牙利语, 匈牙利語 , magyar, 헝가리, Ungaarish, Ungaaragh, венгр, венгерский, ungrare, macarca, macar, người Hung-ga-ri tiếng Hung-ga-ri |
Japanese Kanji | 辭典 , 辞典 , 字引 , 辞林 , 字書 , ディーゼル電気車 , 言海 , 辞彙 , 辞書 , 確定 , ディーゼル電気車 , デ'ドロ酢酸 , 翻訳 | 日語 , 日语, 日本 , 日文 , 倭 , japán, 邦語 , 邦人 , ジャスミン茶 , ほう", ジャパニーズ , ほうじ", 일본, Shapaanagh, Shapaanish, японский, японец, japansk, Japonca, người Nhật bản tiếng Nhật bản |
Japanese Katakana | じい, じびき, じて", ディクショナリー , じり", じしょ, '"かい, ディクショナリ , デフィニション , ディフィニション , ていぎ, かくてい, へい"ういどう, やくじゅつ, トランスレーション , やくしょ, やくしゅつ, "うどく, ほ"やく, ほ"やくしょ | 日語 , 日语, 日本 , 日文 , 倭 , japán, 邦語 , 邦人 , ジャスミン茶 , ほう", ジャパニーズ , ほうじ", 일본, Shapaanagh, Shapaanish, японский, японец, japansk, Japonca, người Nhật bản tiếng Nhật bản |
Korean | 사 , 의, 번역 | 韩国语, "國 , 朝鮮語 , koreai, 한국, кореец, корейский, koreansk, kore'li, người Triều tiên tiếng Triều tiên |
Manx | fockleyr, geyrid, meenaghey, keeayllaght, baght | mann-szigeti nyelv, Manninish, Manninagh, Gaelgagh, Yn Ghaelg, язык жителей о-ва мэн, с о-ва мэн, från ön man, man adası, man dili |
Russian | словарь, определение, трансляция, сдвиг, перевод, перемещение | 俄語 , 俄文 , 俄语, orosz, ロシア語 , ロシア", 러시아, Rooshish, Rooshagh, русский, ryss, Rusça, người Nga tiếng Nga |
Swedish | ordbok, lexikon, översättning | 瑞典語 , 瑞典语, svéd, スウェーデン語 , スウェーデン", 스웨덴, Soolynish, Soolynagh, шведский, svensk, isveççe, isveç dili, isveç, Ísveçlí, người Thuỵ điển tiếng Thuỵ điển |
Turkish | sözlük, ansiklopedik sözlük, açıklama, belirleme, belirtme, kesinleştirme, tanım, tarif, seçiklik, tanımlama, tercüme | 土耳其語 , 土耳其, török, Yn Turkish, Turkagh, турецкий, turkisk, türkçe, türk, tiếng Thổ nhĩ kỳ |
Vietnamese | có tính chất sách vở, sự định rõ, sự định nghĩa, lời định nghĩa sự định, sự dịch, sự biến th nh sự giải thích | 越南語 , 越南语, 越南 , vietnami, vietnámi, ベトナ 人 , ベトナ じ", 트남, вьетнамский, vietnames, vietnamlı, vietnam dili, vietnam, người Việt nam tiếng Việt |
English | Dictionary, Definition, Translation | 英语, 英國 , 英文 , 英 , 英語 , angol, 영국, Sostynagh, Sostnagh, Baarlagh, английский, engelsk, ingiltere, ingiliz, Íngílízce, ingilizce, Íngílíz, ýngilizce |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Images: Photo Album | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Cities 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Anagrams 10. Orthography 11. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
