Outright

How to spell outright

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce outright

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does outright mean?

1. adverbCompletely, openly, or all at once, without reservation or delay.
2. adjectiveTotal, complete, or undisguised, with nothing held back.

Outright in a sentence

• adverb

  The board rejected the takeover bid outright.

• adjective

  The new candidate won an outright majority in the first round.

• adverb

  She bought the flat outright rather than taking out a mortgage.

• adjective

  The inspector called the report an outright fabrication.

Where does outright come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Outright is a native English compound, built from the old prefix out-, which here carries the sense of fully or to the very end, and right, from the Old English riht meaning 'straight, just, or correct'. The combination arose in Middle English, where 'out' was often added to verbs and adverbs to push their meaning to completion, much as it still does in 'outlast' or 'outpace'. In its earliest uses outright meant 'straight onward' or 'directly', then broadened to mean 'completely' or 'all at once', as in killing something outright. By the seventeenth century it had also settled into an adjective sense meaning total or undisguised, as in an outright lie. Because both halves are common everyday words, the spelling is straightforward; the only thing to remember is that it is written as a single solid word, not as two words or with a hyphen.

How the word is built

• out- (prefix: fully, completely)
• right (from Old English riht: straight, correct)