Word.ws English Dictionary

speak truth to power

speak truth to power verb: to address facts to an authority or a superior, especially in the face of risk to oneself.

Verb

speak truth to power (third-person singular simple present speaks truth to power, present participle speaking truth to power, simple past spoke truth to power, past participle spoken truth to power)

  1. To address facts to an authority or a superior, especially in the face of risk to oneself.
    • He was tired of corporate politics and craved a setting where people spoke truth to power, but, he said, it took him a while to get used to dealing with Dalio.2011 July 18, John Cassidy, “Mastering the Machine”, in The New Yorker, →ISSN
    • “Once, we needed to have a pope who would speak in favour of human rights in Russia and China,” said Massimo Faggioli […]. “You now need someone who can speak truth to American power.”2025 May 10, Massimo Faggioli, quotee, “Chicagoan pope not afraid of speaking truth to power in US”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3

Forms of speak truth to power

third-person singular presentspeaks truth to power
present participlespeaking truth to power
pastspoke truth to power
past participlespoken truth to power

Questions about speak truth to power

What does speak truth to power mean?
Speak truth to power means to address facts to an authority or a superior, especially in the face of risk to oneself.
What part of speech is speak truth to power?
Speak truth to power is a verb.
What is the past tense of speak truth to power?
The past tense of speak truth to power is spoke truth to power.

Words near speak truth to power in the dictionary

  1. speak out of turn
  2. speak softly and carry a big stick
  3. speak someone's language
  4. speak to
  5. speak too soon
  6. speak truth to power
  7. speak up
  8. speak volumes
  9. speak well of
  10. speak with a forked tongue
  11. speak'st

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: speak truth to power (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.

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