| / English Dictionary |
CANDOUR
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The quality of being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech
Synonyms:
candidness; candor; candour; directness; forthrightness; frankness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("candour" is a kind of...):
honestness; honesty (the quality of being honest)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "candour"):
ingenuousness (openly straightforward or frank)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Ability to make judgments free from discrimination or dishonesty
Synonyms:
candor; candour; fair-mindedness; fairness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("candour" is a kind of...):
impartiality; nonpartisanship (an inclination to weigh both views or opinions equally)
Context examples:
Affectation of candour is common enough—one meets with it everywhere.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
There was the same candour, the same vivacity, but it was allied to an expression more full of sensibility and intellect.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
I am surprised, Steerforth—although your candour does you honour, said Mr. Creakle, does you honour, certainly—I am surprised, Steerforth, I must say, that you should attach such an epithet to any person employed and paid in Salem House, sir.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I was not sure of the existence of one virtue in her nature: I had marked neither modesty, nor benevolence, nor candour, nor refinement in her mind or manners—and, I married her:—gross, grovelling, mole-eyed blockhead that I was!
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
They had music; Emma was obliged to play; and the thanks and praise which necessarily followed appeared to her an affectation of candour, an air of greatness, meaning only to shew off in higher style her own very superior performance.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Miss Bennet was the only creature who could suppose there might be any extenuating circumstances in the case, unknown to the society of Hertfordshire; her mild and steady candour always pleaded for allowances, and urged the possibility of mistakes—but by everybody else Mr. Darcy was condemned as the worst of men.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
In general he was judged, throughout the parishes of Donwell and Highbury, with great candour; liberal allowances were made for the little excesses of such a handsome young man—one who smiled so often and bowed so well; but there was one spirit among them not to be softened, from its power of censure, by bows or smiles—Mr. Knightley.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
And the distinction is not quite so much against the candour and common sense of the world as appears at first; for a very narrow income has a tendency to contract the mind, and sour the temper.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
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