as in freely
in a direct and honest way; without hiding feelings or opinions
Please feel free to express your opinions openly. The governor has been openly critical of the President.
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Recent Examples of openly
Combs says another reason younger generations are so susceptible to this is because they were raised in households where money was rarely openly discussed, leaving them ill-equipped to ask direct financial questions or understand whether they’re financially aligned with their partner early on.
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Sydney Lake, Fortune, 11 Jan. 2026
Activists and Iranians in the country are painting a different picture, saying security forces are openly brandishing military rifles and shooting civilians.
—David Zimmermann, The Washington Examiner, 11 Jan. 2026
In Grossmont Union High School District, an East County high school district with a large immigrant and refugee population, school board meetings generally play host to straightforward votes where members of a conservative majority rarely openly disagree with each other.
—Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Jan. 2026
Trump has coveted and has openly campaigned for winning the Nobel Prize himself since his return to office.
—Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2026
The actor, 37, made history as the first openly gay man to receive the title.
—Nicholas Rice, PEOPLE, 11 Jan. 2026
Potkin Azarmehr, a British-Iranian journalist, said the unrest stands in sharp contrast to Iran’s 2009 Green Movement, when protesters openly questioned whether the Obama administration supported them.
—Michael Dorgan, FOXNews.com, 10 Jan. 2026
This financial support has been, by the way, openly announced.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 10 Jan. 2026
The reputational damage flows from a federal strategy that seems to openly court confrontation.
—Phil Morris The Minnesota Star Tribune, Arkansas Online, 10 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for openly
Adverb
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Countries like China let their industries pollute freely, dumping chemicals into rivers, pumping toxins into the air and throwing plastics into the ocean.—
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Harvard University's president took a jab at the school's faculty in a recent podcast, saying that activism in the classroom has led to student fears of speaking freely.—
Adverb
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And then there’s Hanse, who sincerely assumed he was brought on to be the preserver of tradition.—
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It certainly can be deployed sincerely, yet it’s almost always accompanied by a good-natured, perhaps slightly exasperated, shake of the head.—
Cite this Entry
“Openly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/openly. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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