tell you the truth

tell you the truth

1. (idiomatic, informal) Used to positively assert the frank honesty of an associated statement of set of statements; equivalent to "to you tell the truth".
   • 1994, Lawrence Block, A Long Line of Dead Men:

     "What's the point? Your buddies can kick back and relax. I'm going into voluntary retirement." / "Oh?" / "Tell you the truth, I was getting a little tired of Jim Shorter. Tired of that little room on Ninety-fourth Street. You know what I might do? I might leave town."

• Used bracketed by punctuation, especially commas, dashes, or parentheses.
• More intimate than tell the truth.

• (used to assert frank honesty of statement): frankly, honestly, tell the truth

• tell the truth