English Explanatory Dictionary

not to put too fine a point on it

English dictionary entry

Meanings

phrase
  1. Used to apologize for a possibly impolite statement one is making; to put it bluntly; to express it in plain terms.

Pronunciation

/nɒt tʊ ˌpʊt tuː ˌfaɪn ə ˈpɔɪnt ɒn ɪt/ /nɑt tə ˌpʊt tu ˌfaɪn ə ˈpɔɪnt ɑn ət/ en-au-not to put too fine a point on it.ogg

Word forms

not to put too fine a point on it

Etymology

A reference to the fact that the speaker is about to say something blunt rather than fine (that is, delicate or subtle).

Related words

in all honesty to be honest to speak frankly frankly speaking to tell the truth pardon my French excuse my French pardon my German
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on N Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary