openly

US/ˈoʊpənli/

adverbB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,755 of 15,258leans written

Openly means without any attempt to hide it. Speak openly, openly hostile, live openly.

It implies there was a reason to conceal the thing, which is why openly gay carried weight and openly tall would be absurd. Openly hostile is stronger than hostile, because it says the person is not bothering to pretend.

Definitions of openly

1adverbopenlyWithout any attempt to hide it.B2
“He spoke openly about his struggle with depression in the interview.”

openly is a manner.

Where it comes from

Old English openlice, from open plus -ly. Open comes from a Germanic root related to up.

Old English
openlīċe
Middle English
openli
English, today
openly

From Middle English openli, from Old English openlīċe. by surface analysis, en + open + ly.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

openly in the wild

LGBTQ people who have already revealed or no longer conceal their sexual orientation or gender identity are out of the closet or simply out, i.e., openly LGBTQ.
Coming out
Israel, for example, a country that otherwise struggles to implement LGBTQ-positive social policy, nevertheless has a military well known for its broad acceptance of openly gay soldiers.
LGBTQ people and military service
In 2011, he became the first openly gay parent in Congress.
Jared Polis
One commonly cited example is Michael McConnell and Jack Baker, the first openly gay couple to apply for a marriage license in 1971.
List of LGBTQ firsts by year
There have been several notable openly LGBTQ+ athletes, including Jason Collins, John Curry, Orlando Cruz, and Billie Jean King.
Homosexuality in modern sports

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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