Looking for a word or phrase to describe a man/woman, who has his/her own thoughts and opinions and isn’t afraid to put them across into conversation even when their opinion is outnumbered..?
-
1self-assured, self-confidently articulate– XanneCommented Sep 20, 2019 at 4:41
-
Covered in the duplicate: forward, straightforward, forthcoming, frank (in title); candid, outspoken, blunt, forthright.... And certainly related: A Word for someone who says exactly what they are thinking.– Edwin AshworthCommented Sep 20, 2019 at 13:30
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
Forthright (adj): (of a person or their manner or speech) direct and outspoken. [ODE@Lexicon]
2.B.2 fig. Going straight to the point, straightforward, unswerving, outspoken; also, unhesitating, dexterous. [OED]
I think this sturdy old word fits most admirably. It certainly describes someone who unflinchingly and articulately speaks out; perhaps even compulsively or as a mandate of conscience.
However, there are manly less flattering words we might use to describe exactly the same trait or personage: blunt, terse, unreserved, indelicate, unvarnished.
So, a scan through the OED's historical senses of this compound word might bring about some useful nuance or foregrounding.
forth, v. Obs.
1.1 trans. To accomplish, carry out; also, to manage to (do something).
right, adv.
I. 1.I.1 a.I.1.a Of motion or position: Straight; in a direct course or line.
a.III.13.a In a proper or fitting manner; in the required or necessary way; properly; duly, aright. 14.III.14 In accordance with facts or the truth of the case; accurately, correctly, exactly.
a.I.3.a Immediately after some event. b.I.3.b †right forth, straightway, at once (obs.) So right off, right away, immediately, without delay.
Of course, all positive meanings of "right" should not be assigned to a word coming to mean "direct and outspoken." Indeed, this is the sort of word that might have exploded into useful nuance during the late Victorian, as one of those too-restrained compliments one might pay a reserved worker or the most serious-minded man of science—or equally a euphemism on transgression about a woman one might say this of, however sincerely.
A somewhat stuffy and archaic word by many of our standards of looking at the ideas of that period, but one not without its charm in that regard, as well as in implicit recognition of the tension between intellectual thought and its social/emotional consequences.
