What's the difference between forthright and gruff?

Forthright


Definition:

  • (adv.) Straight forward; in a straight direction.
  • (a.) Direct; straightforward; as, a forthright man.
  • (n.) A straight path.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Though Charter 08 mostly called for the Communist party to uphold commitments made in its own constitution it was a coherent and forthright challenge to the party’s rule, calling for peaceful democratic reform.
  • (2) By recognizing the importance of mentorship in professional development, by being sensitive to some of the common barriers to its implementation, and by taking forthright steps to encourage its use, a greater reliance on mentorship can be exercised to the benefit of our profession.
  • (3) Otherwise, the failure of the biomedical research community to meet this challenge forthrightly is soon likely to lead to damaging intervention by government agencies and elected officials.
  • (4) So during an interview at his office in Berlin, de Maizière is forthright about the dangers of Britain leaving the EU, and he expresses irritation at the countries who believe German money can solve all of Europe's banking and defence problems.
  • (5) Tom Giles, the editor of Panorama, was also forthright in his criticism of Newsnight.
  • (6) One of the most forthright members of the new crossbench, the Tasmanian PUP senator Jacqui Lambie, shook hands with the leader of the government in the Senate, Eric Abetz, despite declaring in a weekend media interview that she did “not like the man” (she told News Corp Abetz was part of a “little men’s group” of Coalition senators who lacked achievements).
  • (7) He is a forthright defender of judicial independence and a supporter of modernisation in the courts where cases are still conducted from behind mounds of files and paperwork.
  • (8) John Kerry, the US secretary of state, was even more forthright, saying bluntly that Isis "must be destroyed".
  • (9) We know there is nothing like some forthright customer feedback to bring about change.
  • (10) "Jennifer was an incredible woman and was as forthright and as opinionated when we were working together as she was when she wrote about her astonishing life," said Harris.
  • (11) The forthright American intervention came as Cameron's plans also came under concerted attack from Brussels and the Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny , whose country holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU.
  • (12) He's started in forthright form, telling MPs the process was handled in bad faith.
  • (13) Mind your own business Southern belle Besse Cooper , who died at the age of 116 in Monroe, Georgia, had endearingly forthright reasoning for her long life: "I mind my own business," Cooper said.
  • (14) The Lib Dems, who are defending the seat in next Thursday's vote following Chris Huhne's resignation, seized on the Tory problems, presenting 10 questions that they said had to be answered about Hutchings, who has attracted headlines for forthright – and often off-message – views about subjects ranging from state education to the EU and gay marriage.
  • (15) Her criticism of Momentum is the most forthright of any MP for some time, after Tom Blenkinsop called for the group to be banned and Tom Watson dismissed it as a “bit of a rabble” .
  • (16) When we meet he is sporting a shaggy beard and offers a forthright view.
  • (17) Tom Burke, founding director of green thinktank E3G and a veteran environmental campaigner, is even more forthright.
  • (18) Comey, who pledged to forthrightly study and admit FBI mistakes, twice said Paul misunderstood the facts of the cases.
  • (19) I think in all countries around the world, the problem of liberty is important; it's the duty of everyone to combat the state and uphold liberty – to address it in an honest, frank, forthright manner."
  • (20) It was with a mixture of wistfulness and his usual forthright bullishness that Sam Allardyce, briefly moving his attention away from the 21st-century football that West Ham United intend to confront Chelsea with on Friday afternoon, looked back eight years and contemplated what he might have achieved in his final season at Bolton Wanderers if he had received greater financial backing – or, to be precise, any financial backing – when his team were hovering around the Champions League places at Christmas.

Gruff


Definition:

  • (superl.) Of a rough or stern manner, voice, or countenance; sour; surly; severe; harsh.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A gruff intellectual alternately nicknamed “Mad Dog” and “the warrior monk,” Mattis is deeply respected in much of the foreign policy establishment, despite notably clashing with the Obama administration over his more hawkish views on Iran.
  • (2) Ricky Gervais: 'It’s always about people, it’s always about ego' Read more Take the film’s opening minute, in which gruff US comedian Jim Norton cameos as an absurdly camp male prostitute eager to offer radio journalist Frank Bonneville (Eric Bana) a “freebie”.
  • (3) I still am.” For many Republican primary voters, the question is whether the unassuming if somewhat gruff Paul – who insisted on no mayo in the ham and cheese sandwich he ordered for lunch – ever was particularly interesting, or if voters were only attracted to the idiosyncratic, 21st-century libertarianism he expounds.
  • (4) At the booth in between the never-was of Windsor and the has-been of Detroit, the officer I happened to draw had a gruff belly and the mysterious air of intentional inscrutability, like a troll under a bridge in a fairytale.
  • (5) The then manager was Walter Smith, a gruff but dignified Scot who had enjoyed considerable success at Rangers a decade earlier.
  • (6) Ingham, whose gruffness camouflages an intellect of silken agility, was addressing the specific question of his boss’s public image, and asking, by implication, if the Iron Lady could – well – melt, just a little.
  • (7) The film critic, who says Statham's name with an approximation of his low, gruff cockney, likes the chance the actor took with Hummingbird and also admires his 2011 film Blitz , co-starring Paddy Considine.
  • (8) Many had come for the first time to witness the much-vaunted oratorical skills of France’s youngest MP – and to see how she compared to her grandfather, the gruff former paratrooper Jean-Marie Le Pen, who co-founded the Front National in 1972 and led it to become the most successful far-right party in western Europe.
  • (9) Get the metal pan!” Martin jokes, aping the Hollywood convention of a gruff doctor dropping each slug into a brass surgical tray with a solid “plink”.
  • (10) Rajapaksa's folksy, gruff bonhomie and his canny direction of development funds to the countryside has paid dividends at successive polls.
  • (11) His manner was often gruff and rude, even to those he liked: Isabella Blow, (pictured right with McQueen) who was broke when she bought his entire first collection and had to pay for it in installments, told me once how he used to march her to the cashpoint every week to get £50 out.
  • (12) Many of them were adapted for television or made into feature films; the Wexford books in particular were an enormous success on TV, with the actor George Baker playing Wexford as a big, gruff, rural policeman, solving crime in the fictional Sussex town of Kingsmarkham.
  • (13) But his less enthusiastic answer about Bannon comes amid reports of infighting in the Trump White House, all of which place the gruff, irascible Bannon at the center.
  • (14) Jenkins is small, but she has a surprisingly gruff voice, rising to a growl when she is annoyed.
  • (15) "I'm extremely well," he says with jovial gruffness.
  • (16) Luther starts in the UK on Tuesday, 9pm, BBC1 LUTHER: THE SERIES THREE LINEUP John Luther Gruff of voice, red of eye, natty of coat, the maverick DCI is good at solving crime, bad at life.
  • (17) His voice sounded gruff, his eyes still fixed on my breasts as he continued the fierce stroking and caressing.
  • (18) The White House did not announce the meeting until late on Thursday, prompting a gruff complaint from Beijing, in what has become something of a diplomatic ritual whenever Obama meets the exiled Buddhist monk.
  • (19) Tens of thousands of west of Scotland men derived a gruff pride in working hard for their money and providing food and shelter for their families.
  • (20) The show has made a star of one year 9 boy, 13-year-old Ryan Ward, a gruff-voiced, latte-drinking philosopher who wants to be a firefighter, a police officer or an actor.