Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Frankly |
FranklyAdverb1. (used as intensives reflecting the speaker's attitude) it is sincerely the case that; "honestly, I don't believe it"; "candidly, I think she doesn't have a conscience"; "frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "frankly" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Synonyms: FranklySynonyms: candidly (adv), honestly (adv). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Frankly |
| English words defined with "frankly": directly, Dutch uncle ♦ flat ♦ Gentilly ♦ level ♦ straight ♦ talk turkey. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "frankly": Crochet Work. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Frankly darling, if I had the chance again I wouldn't have had children (Bridget Jones's Diary; writing credit: Helen Fielding) They say the greatest tragedy is when a father outlives his son. I've never understood why that is; frankly, I can see an upside to it (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) Then you are frankly dishonest (To Catch a Thief; writing credit: David Dodge; John Michael Hayes) And frankly, it's ludicrous to have these interlocking bodies and not interlock (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) And frankly, I don't want them watching this crap (Saturday Night Live; writing credit: Doug Abeles; Leo Allen) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Frankly Howerd (1959) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Frankly, I'm not ashamed of it!. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Joseph Heller | Frankly, I'd like to see the government get out of war altogether and leave the whole field to private industry. |
Sir Harold Bowen | Facts that are not frankly faced have a habit of stabbing us in the back. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | As extreme artlessness meets extreme coquetry, she smiled upon him, very frankly. |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | Whatever he had heard or read of the craft of jesuits he had put aside frankly as not borne out by his own experience |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Civil Liberties | China | On December 20, 2000, Hunan Star TV's talk show, Take it Easy, became the first program in to air a program talking frankly about homosexual life. (references) |
Economic History | Brazil | President Cardoso has been willing to discuss race relations frankly. (references) |
France | Differences are discussed frankly and have not been allowed to impair the pattern of close cooperation that characterizes relations between the two countries. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Bob Graham | The best intelligence is that he's still alive. The best intelligence is that, of all the places he might be, he's most likely to still be in Afghanistan. But frankly, we do not know where he is at this time. |
Dennis Miller | I don't own a pickup truck or a van, and frankly, people who do scare me. |
Pervez Musharraf | Well, frankly, at this moment, as with the sentiments around in the Muslim world, I don't think it will be very productive. It will certainly increase the opposition to the United States. |
Phil McGraw | Oh, everybody wears a mask. We all put our best foot forward. We all try and make a statement, I'm not saying that's bad. Frankly, I go to the mall. I don't want to know everybody's damn problems. Just let me go get my ice cream cone and go home. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Franklin Pierce | 1853-1857 | If this reasonable expectation be not realized, I frankly confess that one of your leading hopes is doomed to disappointment, and that my efforts in a very important particular must result in a humiliating failure. |
Woodrow Wilson | 1913-1921 | Some new things, as we look frankly upon them, willing to comprehend their real character, have come to assume the aspect of things long believed in and familiar, stuff of our own convictions. |
John F. Kennedy | 1961-1963 | To state the facts frankly is not to despair the future nor indict the past. |
Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | But, frankly, the ratings are too numerous, diverse and confusing to be really useful to parents. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Frankly" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 95.92% of the time. "Frankly" is used about 979 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 |
| Adverb (general) | 95.92% | 939 | 7,715 |
| Noun (proper) | 4.08% | 40 | 54,274 |
| Total | 100.00% | 979 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "frankly": frankly speaking ♦ speak frankly. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
frankly | 17 |
frankly speaking | 9 |
damn dear don frankly give i t | 6 |
frankly my dear | 3 |
frankly golf | 2 |
frankly scarlett | 2 |
frankly inc speaking | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "frankly"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | sinqerisht (genuinely, openly, sincerely, Square, truly). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | откровено (candidly, forthright, openly, sincerely, unreservedly), прямо (above board, outright, squarely), искрено (genuinely, heartily, in good faith, sincerely, truly, unfeignedly). (various references) | |
Chinese | 坦率地. (various references) | |
Dutch | rondweg (openly), ronduit (openly), open en bloot (openly). (various references) | |
Esperanto | malkaŝe (openly). (various references) | |
Finnish | suoraan (direct, openly, straight), avoimesti (openly). (various references) | |
French | franchise (franchise, frankness), ouvertement, nettement. (various references) | |
German | freiheraus (bluntly, candidly), offen (ajar, apertured, blatantly, candid, candidly, clear, direct, exposed, fair, forthright, Frank, free spoken, ingenuous, ingenuously, loose, low, naked, open, open-hearted, openly, outright, outspoken, outstanding, overt, overtly, pitched, plainly, raw, sincere, sincerely, straightforward, unconcealed, undecided, undetermined, undone, unfilled, unharbored, unhidden, unreservedly, unrestrained, unsealed, unsettled, upfront, vacant). (various references) | |
Greek | ειλικρινά (sincerely, solemnly, truly). (various references) | |
Hebrew | במישרין (directly, straightforwadly). (various references) | |
Hungarian | nyíltan (aboveboard, avowedly, baldly, bluntly, candidly, confessedly, fair and square, flat, genuinely, honestly, in the face of day, openly, outright, overtly, plump, professedly, sincerely, to speak out, unreservedly). (various references) | |
Indonesian | terang-terangan (undisguised), berterus-terang (blunt). (various references) | |
Italian | liberamente (free, freely, liberally). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 腹'割って , 端的, ずばずば言う (decidedly, decisively, once and for all, to speak one's mind, to speak very frankly, unreservedly), 包みなく (without concealment, without reserve), 有りのまま (as it is, fact, the truth), 明白 (obvious, overt, plainly), あの方 (ah, airhead, ambiguous, cartoon character, contrary, farewell, fool, good-bye, he, inverse, kind of cookie, oaf, oh, opposite, saw-edged perch, she, that gentleman, to dandle, to fail in getting a job, uncertain, vague), あり方 (as it is, fact, the truth, the way something ought to be). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ずばり (decidedly, decisively, once and for all, unreservedly), つつみなく (without concealment, without reserve), あからさま (obvious, overt, plainly), めいはく (obvious, overt, plainly), ありのまま (as it is, fact, the truth), あらわに , あるがまま (as it is, fact, the truth), はら'わって. (various references) | |
Korean | "직하게 (unreservedly). (various references) | |
Manx | dy foslit, dy foshlit (above board, avowedly, professedly). (various references) | |
Norwegian | åpent, ærlig (above-board, candid, honest, upright). (various references) | |
Papiamen | abiertamente (openly). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | anklyfray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | semrodeios (openly), abertamente (barely, openly, outright, over-the-counter, professedly, unreservedly). (various references) | |
Romanian | sincer (above board, artless, authentic, blunt, candid, candidly, childlike, devout, downright, fair, forthright, Frank, freehearted, free-spoken, genuine, guileless, heartfelt, heart-whole, hearty, honest, honestly, ingenuous, kind, open, open-hearted, outright, outspoken, overt, plain, plainly, right-down, round, sincere, single, straight, straightforward, true, truly, truthful, undisguised, unfeigned, unpretending, unreserved, well-meant), direct (bluff, bluntly, candidly, categorical, direct, directly, due, fair, first hand, flat, formal, full, immediate, official, open, openly, outright, plump, straight, straightforward, straightforwardly, straightly, straightway, through), deschis (above board, artless, avowedly, bald, baldly, barefaced, barely, blunt, broad, direct, downright, flatly, forthright, Frank, freehearted, free-spoken, guileless, light, naked, open, openly, outright, outspoken, overt, overtly, pale, patent, plainly, raw, round, roundly, sincere, Square, straight, straightforward, unfeigned, unreserved). (various references) | |
Russian | откровенно (openly, overtly, plain, plainly, straight from the shoulder). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | iskreno (above board, bluntly, genuinely, open minded, sincerely, singly). (various references) | |
Spanish | francamente (bluntly, honestly, openly, outright, outspokenly, plain, plainly, really). (various references) | |
Swedish | uppriktigt sagt (frankly speaking). (various references) | |
Thai | อย่างตรงไปตรงมา (directly, simply). (various references) | |
Turkish | samimi olarak (cordially, dear, faithfully, man to man), dobra dobra (bluntly, downright, forthright, in plain english, outright, roundly, straight out, straight-from-the-shoulder, without mincing matters), doğrusu (actually, as a matter of fact, frankly speaking, honest, honestly, in all conscience, in fact, in sooth to say, indeed, of a verity, strictly, strictly speaking, the straight of it, to tell the truth, verily), dürüstçe (above board, fair, fairly, faithfully, honestly, rightly), alenen (avowedly, in public, openly, publicly), açikça (clearly, of course, openly), açıkçası (frankly speaking, in plain english, in plain words, strictly, strictly speaking, to tell the truth), açıkça (above board, avowedly, bluntly, clear, clearly, cloudlessly, declaredly, definitely, directly, distinctly, downright, evidently, expressly, fairly, flatly, in round terms, manifestly, nakedly, openly, outright, outspokenly, plainly, plump, point blank, professedly, roundly, simply, straight out). (various references) | |
Turkmen | aз-aзan (freely). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | відверто (above board, avowedly, baldly, barely, broadly, confessedly, explicitly, freely, in public, open-heartedly, openly, outright, outspokenly, plain, plainly, professedly, unreservedly, without reserve). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | aperte, libere. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Luke Chapter 7, Verse 42 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Mh econtwn de autwn apodounai amfoteroiV ecarisato tiV oun autwn eipe pleion auton agaphsei |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Non habentibus illis unde redderent donavit utrisque quis ergo eum plus diliget |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | þa hig næfdon hwanon hi hyt aguldon: he hit him bam forgef; Hwæþer lufode hyne swyðor; |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Sothli hem not hauynge wherof thei schulden yelde, he yaf frely to `euer eythir. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | When they had nothinge to paye he forgave the boothe. Which of them tell me will love him moost? |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | When they were unable to make payment, he made the two of them free of their debts. Which of them, now, will have the greater love for him? |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Luke Chapter 7, Verse 42 |
| Cebuano | Ug kay wala man silay ikabayad, silang duha iyang gipasaylo. Karon kinsa man kanila ang labing mahigugma kaniya?" |
| Chinese | 為 他 們 無 力 償 還 、 債 主 就 開 恩 免 了 他 們 兩 人 的 債 。 這 兩 個 人 那 一 個 更 愛 他 呢 。 |
| Croatian | Buduæi da nisu imali odakle vratiti, otpusti obojici. Koji æe ga dakle od njih više ljubiti?" |
| Danish | Da de ikke havde noget at betale med, eftergav han dem det begge. Hvem af dem vil nu elske ham mest?" |
| Dutch | En als zij niet hadden om te betalen, schold hij het hun beiden kwijt. Zeg dan, wie van dezen zal hem meer liefhebben? |
| Finnish | Kun heillä ei ollut, millä maksaa, antoi hän molemmille velan anteeksi. Kumpi heistä siis rakastaa häntä enemmän?" |
| French | Comme ils n`avaient pas de quoi payer, il leur remit tous deux leur dette. Lequel l`aimera le plus? |
| German | Da sie aber nicht hatten, zu bezahlen, schenkte er's beiden. Sage an, welcher unter denen wird ihn am meisten lieben? |
| Hungarian | És mikor nem volt nékik mibõl megadni, mind a kettõnek elengedé. E kettõ közül azért, mondd meg, melyik szereti õt jobban? |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Kedua-duanya tidak dapat melunasi utang itu, maka utang mereka dihapuskannya. Nah, siapa di antara kedua orang itu akan lebih mengasihi orang yang meminjamkan uang itu?" |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka sebab pada mereka itu tiada pembayarnya, dilepaskannya kedua-duanya daripada utang. Sekarang yang manakah daripada dua orang itu akan terlebih mengasihi dia?" |
| Manx Gaelic | As tra nagh row oc dy eeck, leih eh daue ny-neesht dy arryltagh. Insh dou eisht, quoi jeu s'booisal vees da? |
| Maori | I te kore nga mea a raua hei whakautu, whakarerea noatia ana e ia ki a raua: tena, ko wai o raua e tino nui tona aroha ki a ia? |
| Norwegian | da de ikke hadde noget å betale med, eftergav han dem begge gjelden. Hvem av dem vil da elske ham mest? |
| Portuguese | Não tendo eles com que pagar, perdoou a ambos. Qual deles, pois, o amará mais? |
| Rumanian | Fiindcq n`aveau cu ce plqti, i -a iertat pe amkndoi. Spune-Mi dar, care din ei kl va iubi mai mult?`` |
| Russian | ОП ЛБЛ ПОЙ ОЕ ЙНЕМЙ ЮЕН ЪБ МБФЙФШ, ПО ТПУФЙМ П'ПЙН. уЛБЦЙ ЦЕ, ЛПФПТЩК ЙЪ ОЙИ 'ПМЕЕ ЧПЪМА'ЙФ ЕЗП? |
| Shuar | Akiktin tsawant jeamtai Mái-metek takakcha ármiayi. Tuma asamtai Kuítian ikiamin ni tumashrin Mái-metek Asakátrarmiayi. Wats, Turuttiá ¿Tú aishmanka ikiamniun nekas aneamia?" Tímiayi. |
| Swahili | Waliposhindwa kulipa madeni yao, huyo mtu aliwasamehe wote wawili. Sasa ni yupi kati ya hao wawili atampenda zaidi huyo bwana?" |
| Swedish | Men då de icke kunde betala, efterskänkte han skulden för dem båda. Vilken av dem kommer nu att älska honom mest?" |
| Uma | Ngkai ka'uma-napi rakulei' mpobayari inta-ra, na'uli' -mi tauna to rapohentai toei: `Uma-pi mingki' nibayari inta-ni.' Jadi', hema ngkai hira' to rodua toera to meliu ahi' -ra hi popa'intaa-ra?" |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Misspellings | |
"Frankly" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: franckly, francly, frankel, frankl, Frankley, Frankli, Franklim, franky, Freinkel, Frenchly, frienkly, frunky, hranolky, Irakly, Krankl. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "frankly" (pronounced fra"ngklē) |
| 5 | -a" ng k l ē | blankly. |
| 3 | -k l ē | academically, acoustically, aerobically, aerodynamically, aesthetically, alchemically, algebraically, alphabetically, analytically, anatomically, angelically, apologetically, artistically, astronomically, athletically, authentically, automatically, basically, biologically, biweekly, briskly, brusquely, categorically, characteristically, chemically, chronologically, classically, cosmetically, darkly, democratically, demographically, diplomatically, dogmatically, domestically, dramatically, drastically, ecologically, economically, ecstatically, emphatically, energetically, enthusiastically, erratically, ethnically, euphemistically, fantastically, forensically, generically, genetically, geometrically, geopolitically, graphically, grotesquely, heroically, hypothetically, hysterically, ideologically, idiotically, ironically, likely, linguistically, logically, logistically, lyrically, mechanically, medically, meekly, metaphorically, microscopically, musically, newsweekly, numerically, obliquely, optically, organically, paradoxically, pathologically, phonetically, physiologically, poetically, practically, prickly, prolifically, psychologically, publically, publicly, quickly, radically, realistically, rhetorically, rhythmically, sarcastically, sickly, sleekly, slickly, sparkly, specifically, sporadically, starkly, stoically, strategically, stylistically, symmetrically, synthetically, systematically, systemically, terrifically, thematically, theologically, thickly, tragically, typically, uncharacteristically, undiplomatically, uniquely, unlikely, unrealistically, vertically, volcanically, weakly, weekly. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-f-k-l-n-r-y" | |
-1 letter: rankly. | |
-2 letters: flaky, flank, frank, lanky, larky, narky. | |
-3 letters: alky, aryl, farl, flak, flan, flay, fray, karn, knar, kyar, laky, lank, lark, nark, nary, rank, yank, yarn. | |
-4 letters: any, arf, ark, fan, far, fay, fly, fry, kaf, kay, lar, lay, nay, ran, ray, rya, yak, yar. | |
-5 letters: al, an, ar, ay, fa, ka, la, na. | |
| 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. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Spoken 11. Quotations: Speeches 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Bible Trace 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
