truthful

English

Etymology

From truth +‎ -ful. Piecewise doublet of trothful, from Middle English trouþeful.

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.

   Synonyms: factual, veridical

   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.

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), verífico
• 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)