warts and all

Idioms and Phrases

Including all blemishes, faults, and shortcomings, as in Rather unwisely, they decided to buy the house, warts and all . This expression supposedly alludes to Oliver Cromwell's instruction to portrait painter Sir Peter Lely to “remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me, otherwise I will never pay a farthing for it.” [First half of 1600s]

Example Sentences

“He wants to show it warts and all. He loves it, but he also knows it’s false. A lot of people, when it comes to Britain — and they do it in America as well sometimes — will shy away from that when it comes to a big commercial movie. I think it’s very clever of him to give us a well-rounded picture of this place.”

From Los Angeles Times

It’s an appropriate last play for Flynn to direct in his role as the leader of a theater committed to showing us our collective countenance, warts and all.

From Los Angeles Times

“If you can just hold out for those brief moments of joy and light and life it makes it worth it and it helps you carry on. You see Rona experience every facet of it, so it feels like a celebration of life, warts and all.”

From Los Angeles Times

It is my job to try to bring you as clear a sense as I can of what is really going on at the heart of government, warts and all.

From BBC

Some see Crowther as an unfairly maligned man of his time, and his effigy as an important part of the state’s history, warts and all.

From BBC

Related Words

• blatantly
• brazenly
• candidly
• flagrantly
• forthrightly
• fully
• honestly
• plainly
• publicly
• readily
• simply
• unabashedly
• unashamedly
• willingly