downright

downright

English

Etymology

From Middle English dounright, dounriȝt, equivalent to down- +‎ right.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊnˌɹaɪt/

Adjective

downright (comparative more downright, superlative most downright)

1. (obsolete) Directed vertically; coming straight down.
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:

     Lord Stafford’s father, Duke of Buckingham,
     Is either slain or wounded dangerously;
     I cleft his beaver with a downright blow:

   • 1611, John Donne, An Anatomy of the World, London: Samuel Macham,

     We thinke the heavens enjoy their Sphericall

     Their round proportion embracing all.

     But yet their various and perplexed course,

     Observ’d in divers ages doth enforce

     Men to finde out so many Eccentrique parts,

     Such divers downe-right lines, such overthwarts,

     As disproportion that pure forme. […]

2. Directly to the point; plain

   Synonyms: unambiguous, unevasive

   • 1727, [Daniel Defoe], chapter 3, in A System of Magick; or, A History of the Black Art. […], London: […] J. Roberts […], OCLC 2135262, page 314:

     […] three Nights together he dreamt that he saw a Neighbouring Gentleman kissing his Mistress, and in downright English, lying with her.

   • 1838 (date written)​, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVIII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, OCLC 1000392275, page 237:

     Her husband was evidently a sensible man, and he might have given his wife a little more sense than she could have derived from her downright father and her silly mother-in-law, who were really as great a pair of noodles as ever were exhibited in the pages of a modern novel, under the cognomen of "amiable rustics."

   • 1907, George Witton, Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant’s Bushveldt Carbineers, Chapter 5,

     There were miners from Klondyke, hunters from the backwoods, troopers from the Northwest Frontier Police, and included were some of the “hardest cases” that the land of the maple leaf ever produced; these were past-masters in the use of unique expletives, and for downright and original profanity it would hardly be possible to find their equal.

   • 1920, Annie Shepley Omori and Kochi Doi, Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Translator’s Note,

     English words and thought seem too downright a medium into which to render these evanescent, half-expressed sentences and poems—vague as the misty mountain scenery of her country, with no pronouns at all, and without verb inflections.

3. Using plain direct language; accustomed to express opinions directly and bluntly; blunt.
   • 1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, London: W. Strahan & T. Cadell, Volume 1, Book 2, Chapter 2, p. 396,

     It bears the evident marks of having originally been, what the honest and downright Doctor Douglass assures us it was, a scheme of fraudulent debtors to cheat their creditors.

   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 4, in Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II or III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, OCLC 1708336:

     There is an openness, a quickness, almost a bluntness in Mr. Weston, which every body likes in him, because there is so much good-humour with it—but that would not do to be copied. Neither would Mr. Knightley’s downright, decided, commanding sort of manner, though it suits him very well; his figure, and look, and situation in life seem to allow it; but if any young man were to set about copying him, he would not be sufferable.

   • 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 3,

     The twisted trees and high tossed driftwood hinted that Skedans could be as thoroughly fierce as she was calm. She was downright about everything.

4. Complete; absolute

   Synonym: utter

   • 1650, Thomas Browne, chapter I, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], OCLC 152706203, 3rd book, page 5:

     For although in that ancient and diffused adoration of Idols, unto the Priests and subtiler heads, the worship perhaps might be symbolicall, and as those Images some way related unto their deities; yet was the Idolatry direct and down-right in the people […] who may be made beleeve that any thing is God […] .

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 3, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292, book 15, page 132:

     ‘I see his Design,’ said she, ‘for he made downright Love to me Yesterday Morning; but as I am resolved never to admit it […] ’

   • 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, London: Seeley, 1903, Chapter 1,

     The weather is raw and boisterous in winter, shifty and ungenial in summer, and a downright meteorological purgatory in the spring.

Synonyms

• right-down
• evendown

Derived terms

• downrightness

Adverb

downright (not comparable)

1. Really; actually; quite

   Synonyms: thoroughly, utterly

   He wasn’t just cool to me, he was downright rude.

   • 1716, Joseph Addison, The Drummer; or, The Haunted House, London: Jacob Tonson, Act I, Scene 1, p. 8,

     Familiar! Madam, in Troth he’s down-right rude.

   • 1753, Samuel Richardson, The History of Sir Charles Grandison, Volume 6, Letter 31, p. 208,

     And, dear Lady G. he downright kissed me—My lip; and not my cheek—and in so fervent a way—

2. (obsolete) Straight down; perpendicularly.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 36, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299:

     The three mates quailed before his strong, sustained, and mystic aspect. Stubb and Flask looked sideways from him; the honest eye of Starbuck fell downright.

3. (obsolete) Plainly, unambiguously; directly.
   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene iv]:

     Rosalind. Not true in love?
     Celia. Yes, when he is in; but I think he is not in.
     Rosalind. You have heard him swear downright he was.

   • 1741, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter 31”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], OCLC 1264825423, page 146:

     Well, ’tis not my Business to quarrel with her downright.

4. (obsolete) Without delay; at once.
   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, “Chapter 2, p. 14,”, in The History of John Bull:

     The reading of this Paper put Mrs. Bull in such a Passion, that she fell downright into a Fit, and they were forc’d to give her a good quantity of the Spirit of Hartshorn before she recover’d.

Usage notes

"Downright" is used to intensify or emphasize the following adjective, which usually refers to some negative quality.

Synonyms

• right-down

Translations

really; actually; quite; thoroughly; utterly

Bulgarian: съвсем (bg) (sǎvsem), напълно (bg) (napǎlno) Dutch: regelrecht (nl), gewoonweg (nl) Finnish: suorastaan (fi) French: vraiment (fr), carrément (fr) German: geradezu (de) Hungarian: egyenesen (hu), kimondottan Plautdietsch: dichtich Polish: wręcz (pl)

See also

• outright

Anagrams

• right-down