Standard Lemma guide

downright

adj · adv · noun · 13 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈdaʊnɹaɪt/
  • /ˌdaʊnˈɹaɪt/ as a postqualifier or at the end of a clause
  • /ˈdaʊnˌɹaɪt/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with (as a postqualifier or at the end of a clause) -aɪt
  • CMU ARPABET: D AW1 N R AY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Absolute, complete.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: evendown, outright, right-down, unmitigated, utter, abject, frightful, absolute, arrant, categoric, categorical, complete, consummate, decided, downright, full, full-blown, full-bore, full-on, mere, out-and-out, perfect, precious, proper, pure, stark, rank, regular, right, root and branch, sheer, straight-out, thorough, thoroughgoing, total, unadulterated, unalloyed, unattenuated, uncompromising, unconditional, unfettered, unqualified, unreserved, unrestricted, wholesale

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Of a person or their behaviour: direct, plain, straightforward; also, of speech: direct and unambiguous; blunt, to the point.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: clear, unevasive

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Coming straight down; directed vertically.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Chiefly in downright money: in its most basic form; ordinary.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adv

Meaning 5

Completely, wholly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively, not-comparable

Examples

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

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: absolutely, entirely, outright, positively, right-down, thoroughly, utterly, all-out, tout à fait, all the way, blind, altogether, at large, at length, cap-a-pie, categorically, completely, detailly, downright, exhaustively, finally, first and last, flat-out, flat out, from aardvark to zymurgy, from A to Z, from head to toe, from soup to nuts, from stem to stern, from the rooter to the tooter, from top to bottom, from top to toe, fully, handsomely, heartily, head to foot, head to tail, head to toe, hook, line, and sinker, in detail, in full, lock, stock, and barrel, one hundred percent, out-and-out, out and out, particularly, perfectly, plumb, properly, purely, quite, right, root and branch, soundly, soup-to-nuts, straight up, through and through, top to tail, top to toe, totally, totes, to the bone, to the core, to the full, well and truly, whole, whole cloth, wholly

Antonyms: none provided

6

adv

Meaning 6

Of acts or speech: directly and unambiguously; clearly, plainly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, figuratively, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bluntly, outright

Antonyms: none provided

7

adv

Meaning 7

Straight down; perpendicularly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

adv

Meaning 8

Immediately at that place and time; without delay; altogether, at once, then and there.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively, not-comparable, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: outright, straight, straight away

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

A low grade of wool from the lower parts of the sides of a fleece.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: in-plural, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

A vertical line; a perpendicular, a vertical.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, rare

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

adjective satellite

Meaning 11

complete and without restriction or qualification; sometimes used informally as intensifiers

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • absolute freedom
  • an absolute dimwit
  • a downright lie
  • out-and-out mayhem
  • an out-and-out lie
  • a rank outsider
  • many right-down vices
  • got the job through sheer persistence
  • sheer stupidity

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: absolute, out-and-out(a), rank(a), right-down, sheer(a)

Antonyms: none provided

12

adjective satellite

Meaning 12

characterized by plain blunt honesty

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a downright answer
  • a downright kind of person

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

adverb

Meaning 13

thoroughgoing

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he is outright dishonest

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

The adverb is derived from Middle English dounright, dounriȝt (“right down, straight down; face down; vertically; used for emphasis: outright, downright”), and then either: * possibly an aphetic form of adounright (“straight down; directly, immediately (?)”), from adoun (“downward”, adverb) (from Old English adūn, adūne (“down, downward”, adverb), ultimately from dūn (“hill, mountain”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūnā, *dūnu (“hill; sand dune”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dhewh2- (“haze, mist; smoke”)) + right (“direct; straight; etc.”, adjective) (from Old English riht (“straight; etc.”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h3reǵ- (“to straighten”)); or * from doun (“down, downward; etc.”, adverb) (from Old English dūne (“down”), ultimately from dūn (“hill, mountain”): see above) + right. By surface analysis, down (adverb) + right (adjective). The adjective and noun are derived from the adverb. Noun sense 1 (“low grade of wool”) may be from the obsolete adjective sense 2.2 (“in its most basic form; ordinary”).

Across languages

Translations

18 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: съвсем (sǎvsem) — completely, wholly
  • Bulgarian: напълно (napǎlno) — completely, wholly
  • Dutch: regelrecht — completely, wholly
  • Dutch: gewoonweg — completely, wholly
  • Esperanto: tutsimple — completely, wholly
  • Esperanto: absolute — completely, wholly
  • Esperanto: tute — completely, wholly
  • Finnish: suorastaan — completely, wholly
  • French: vraiment — completely, wholly
  • French: carrément — completely, wholly
  • German: geradezu — completely, wholly
  • Hungarian: egyenesen — completely, wholly
  • Hungarian: kimondottan — completely, wholly
  • Kazakh: кәдімгідей (kädımgıdei) — completely, wholly
  • Plautdietsch: dichtich — completely, wholly
  • Polish: wręcz — completely, wholly
  • Romanian: de-a dreptul — completely, wholly
  • Turkish: düpedüz — completely, wholly