Idiom
not to put too fine a point on it
Meaning
Used to apologize for a possibly impolite statement one is making; to put it bluntly; to express it in plain terms.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Not to put too fine a point on it, your work is poor.”
“Not to put too fine a point on it, you are being very rude.”
“Not to put too fine a point on it, the team failed because nobody followed the instructions.”
“Not to put too fine a point on it, we will run out of money by next month if we do not cut our spending immediately.”
“I think your current car is a safety hazard, not to put too fine a point on it, and you should buy a new one.”
“Not to put too fine a point on it, the entire project was fundamentally flawed from its inception, rendering all subsequent efforts futile.”
Examples
simple
“Not to put too fine a point on it, your work is poor.”
“Not to put too fine a point on it, you are being very rude.”
contextual
“Not to put too fine a point on it, the team failed because nobody followed the instructions.”
“Not to put too fine a point on it, we will run out of money by next month if we do not cut our spending immediately.”
“I think your current car is a safety hazard, not to put too fine a point on it, and you should buy a new one.”
complex
“Not to put too fine a point on it, the entire project was fundamentally flawed from its inception, rendering all subsequent efforts futile.”
Origin
The phrase arrives as a metaphor for bluntness, contrasting the speaker’s upcoming directness with a point that is fine, delicate, or subtle. To put a fine point on a matter would be to employ nuance or social grace; to decline to do so is to dispense with such inconveniences. The expression serves as a formal apology for the lack of linguistic refinement about to follow.
Key words
Related idioms
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