Word.ws English Dictionary

speaking truth to power

speaking truth to power is the present participle and gerund of speak truth to power.

Meaning of speak truth to power

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

Questions about speaking truth to power

What is speaking truth to power the present participle and gerund of?
Speaking truth to power is the present participle and gerund of speak truth to power.

Words near speaking truth to power in the dictionary

  1. speaking terms
  2. speaking to
  3. speaking too soon
  4. speaking trumpet
  5. speaking trumpets
  6. speaking truth to power
  7. speaking tube
  8. speaking tubes
  9. speaking up
  10. speaking voice
  11. speaking volumes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: speaking truth to power (page history and authors); 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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