truthful

English

Etymology

From truth +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• enPR: trōōth′fl, IPA^(key): /ˈtɹuːθ.f(ə)l/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːθfəl

Adjective

truthful (comparative more truthful, superlative most truthful)

1. Honest, and always telling the truth.

   someone's truthful nature

   • 2025 March 7, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, quoting Marco Rubio, “Inside the Explosive Meeting Where Trump Officials Clashed With Elon Musk”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Mr. Musk was not being truthful, Mr. Rubio said. What about the more than 1,500 State Department officials who took early retirement in buyouts?

2. Accurately depicting what is real.

   He drew a truthful portrait of the prince.

   • 1850, Edgar Allan Poe, “The Poetic Principle”, in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, volume III:

     He must be blind indeed who does not perceive the radical and chasmal difference between the truthful and the poetical modes of inculcation.

Synonyms

• veridical

Antonyms

• untruthful

Derived terms

• to be truthful
• truthfully
• truthfulness
• untruthful

Translations

honest, and always telling the truth

• Arabic: صَادِق (ar) m (ṣādiq)
• Bulgarian: честен (bg) (česten), правдив (bg) (pravdiv)
• Catalan: veraç (ca), sincer (ca)
• Czech: pravdomluvný (cs)
• Finnish: rehellinen (fi)
• French: sincère (fr)
• German: wahrheitsliebend
• Ingrian: vernoi
• Italian: sincero (it)
• Latin: vērax, vēridicus
• Polish: prawdomówny (pl)
• Russian: правди́вый (ru) (pravdívyj)
• Spanish: veraz (es)
• Zazaki: sadıq

accurately depicting what is real

• Armenian: ճշմարտացի (hy) (čšmartacʻi)
• Bulgarian: верен (bg) (veren), точен (bg) (točen)
• Catalan: veraç (ca), verídic, fidel (ca)
• Czech: pravdivý (cs)
• Finnish: totuudenmukainen (fi)
• German: wahrheitsgemäß (de), wahrheitsgetreu (de)
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌾𐌹𐍃 (sunjis)
• Italian: realista (it)
• Russian: правди́вый (ru) (pravdívyj)
• Spanish: fiel (es), verídico (es) m, verífico m
• Turkish: gerçekçi (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Cebuano: ^{(please verify)} matinod-anon
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} onest (ro), ^{(please verify)} corect (ro)