mince words

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

mince words

1. (idiomatic) To restrain oneself in a conversation by withholding some comments or using euphemisms.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. 20:

     "I ask you, William, could I suppose that the Emperor of Austria was a damned traitor—a traitor, and nothing more? I don’t mince words—a double-faced infernal traitor and schemer."

   • 1920, Upton Sinclair, 100%: The Story of a Patriot, ch. 2:

     The detective did not mince words. "It's plain that you're a boob," he said.

Usage notes

• Usually used in the negative. Hence, "not mince words" means to be straightforward, plain-spoken, or blunt.

Related terms

• minced oath

Translations

to use euphemisms

• Finnish: kierrellä (fi)
• French: (sense: "not to mince words") ne pas mâcher ses mots (fr)
• German: (sense: "not to mince words") sich kein Blatt vor den Mund nehmen
• Icelandic: tala tæpitungulaust (not mince words), vera ómyrkur í máli (not mince words)
• Italian: pesare le parole
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ikke ta bladet for munnen (not to mince words)

• Russian: говори́ть обиняка́ми (ru) (govorítʹ obinjakámi), (sense: "not to mince words") говори́ть без обиняко́в (govorítʹ bez obinjakóv)
• Spanish: no tener pelos en la lengua (es)
• Telugu: నీళ్ళు నములు (nīḷḷu namulu)

See also

• weigh one's words

References

• "mince / not mince words" in the Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.