Meaning & use
candor
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Meaning
noununcountableAmerican
Honesty in what you say, especially when you admit something difficult or unwelcome.
Grammar: No plural: she spoke with candor. British spelling is candour.
Patterns
- with candor
- candor about something
She answered the reporter's questions with surprising candor.
I appreciate your candor, even though the news is bad.
The coach spoke with candor about the team's weaknesses.
Common combinations
- with candor
- He explained his mistakes with candor.
- refreshing candor
- The mayor's refreshing candor won over many skeptics.
- admirable candor
- His admirable candor made it easy to trust him.
- a lack of candor
- The judge criticized the witness for a lack of candor.
- speak with candor
- Please speak with candor, because I need the truth.
Synonyms and how they differ
- honesty
- Honesty is the general word for telling the truth, while candor stresses openness about difficult things.
- frankness
- Frankness is very close and often implies plain, direct speech that may be blunt.
- openness
- Openness is about willingness to share information and ideas, not only to be blunt.
- bluntness
- Bluntness suggests honesty without much tact, whereas candor is usually seen as fair and admirable.
Opposites
Word family
- candid adjective
- honest and direct
- candidly adverb
- in an honest, direct way
- candidness noun
- the quality of being candid
Commonly confused: candor or candour? candor or candy?
candor vs candour
Candour is the British spelling of candor; both have the same meaning.
candor vs candy
Candy is a sweet food, and it only looks and sounds similar to candor.
Practice
The manager's ___ about the company's problems impressed the staff.
Choose one answer.
Candor means open honesty, which fits the manager discussing problems. Caution would not explain why staff were impressed by speaking openly.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “candor”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.