Word.ws English Dictionary

call a shovel a shovel

call a shovel a shovel is the rare form of call a spade a spade.

Meaning of call a spade a spade

Verb

call a spade a spade (third-person singular simple present calls a spade a spade, present participle calling a spade a spade, simple past and past participle called a spade a spade)

  1. (idiomatic) To put it bluntly, to be outspoken; to speak the truth, to describe things as they really are.
    • Maybe God just calls a spade a spade, when the president talks to God.2005, Bright Eyes, When the President Talks to God

Forms of call a shovel a shovel

third-person singular presentcalls a shovel a shovel
present participlecalling a shovel a shovel
past participlecalled a shovel a shovel
pastcalled a shovel a shovel

Questions about call a shovel a shovel

What is call a shovel a shovel the rare form of?
Call a shovel a shovel is the rare form of call a spade a spade.

Words near call a shovel a shovel in the dictionary

  1. call 'em as one sees 'em
  2. call a cab
  3. call a go
  4. call a halt
  5. call a lid
  6. call a shovel a shovel
  7. call a spade a shovel
  8. call a spade a spade
  9. call a spade a spade and a shovel a shovel
  10. call a spade a spade, not a big spoon
  11. call ahead

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: call a shovel a shovel (page history and authors); call a spade a spade (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “call a shovel a shovel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/call_a_shovel_a_shovel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.