Point-blank
adj, adv ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Very close; not touching but not more than a few metres (yards). not-comparable
- 2 The distance between a firearm and a target where a projectile in flight is expected to strike the centre of the target without adjusting the elevation of the firearm. not-comparable
"Now, here's a useful tool—.470, telescopic sight, double ejector, point-blank up to three-fifty. That's the rifle I used against the Peruvian slave-drivers three years ago."
- 3 Disconcertingly straightforward or blunt; outright. not-comparable
"a point-blank assertion"
- 1 close enough to go straight to the target wordnet
- 2 characterized by directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion wordnet
- 1 In a direct manner, without hesitation. not-comparable
"One day, when he was doing some valuation for me, he told me point-blank that clergymen seldom understood anything about business, and did mischief when they meddled; […]"
- 1 in a direct and unequivocal manner wordnet
Example
More examples"He told me point-blank that I was fired."
Etymology
From French point blanc (“white point”), originally referring to the white spot to be aimed at on a target (see blank's "bull's eye") or alternatively into empty space being fired horizontally.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.