not to put too fine a point on it

Language: en

Meaning: (idiomatic)Used toapologizefor a possiblyimpolitestatementone is making; to put it bluntly; to express it in plain terms.1852March –1853September,Charles Dickens, “Mr. Bucket”, inBleak House, London:Bradbury and Evans,[…], published1853,→OCLC,page217:My little woman is at present in—not to put too fine a point on it—in a pious state, or in what she considers such, and attends the Evening Exertions (which is the name they go by) of a reverend party of the name of Chadband.1922February,James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, inUlysses, Paris:Shakespeare and Company,[…],→OCLC, part III [Nostos],page570:En route, to his taciturn, and,not to put too fine a point on it, not yet perfectly sober companion, Mr Bloom, who at all events, was in complete possession of his faculties, never more so, in fact disgustingly sober, spoke a word of cautionrethe dangers of nighttown, women of ill fame and swell mobsmen,[…]2000,Amy Jenkins, chapter 4, inHoneymoon, London:Hodder & Stoughton,→ISBN; republished asHoneymoon(Flame), London: Hodder & Stoughton,2001,→ISBN,page39:You explain slowly and clearly that you are doing him the honour of not beating about the bush[…]Well, you will end up –not to put too fine a point on it(you lower your voice) – having sex. And while you are sure that sex would be very nice, the prognosis for a future between the two of you is not good.

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