You use frankly when you are expressing an opinion or feeling to emphasize that you mean what you are saying, especially when the person you are speaking to may not like it.
[emphasis]
'You don't give a damn about my feelings, do you.'—'Quite frankly, I don't.'.
Frankly, Thomas, this question of your loan is beginning to worry me.
I was frankly astonished at the singer's interpretation of the song.
Synonyms: honestly, sincerely, in truth, candidly More Synonyms of frankly
2. See also frank
More Synonyms of frankly
frankly in British English
(ˈfræŋklɪ)
adverb
1. (sentence modifier)
in truth; to be honest
frankly, I can't bear him
2.
in a frank manner
frankly in American English
(ˈfræŋkli)
adverb
1.
in a frank manner
2.
in truth; to be frank
frankly, he's a bore
Examples of 'frankly' in a sentence
frankly
The bag also contains a frankly terrifying set of surgical instruments.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
But the packages into which they were assembled took on forms that seem frankly rather arbitrary.
Oliver Morton Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet (2007)
Yet how frankly authentic they now seem.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
He cannot tell him frankly in what condition he can expect to survive the slump.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
There are courtiers who claim to have heard him speak frankly.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
And we spoke a bit more frankly about the war thereafter.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Right now they have frankly merged in my mind.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
He is a footballing man and quite frankly his reputation speaks for itself.
The Sun (2011)
The couple talk frankly about their relationship and agree that they both want to build a future together.
The Sun (2010)
Tell her frankly how you feel.
The Sun (2011)
It's a small lake in the pine forest with a frankly worrying car park.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Left to your own devices, you would speak frankly about what you know.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Unusually, they appeared ready to talk frankly and on the record.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Ironically, discussing these frankly now would be far less tedious than you fear.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
But when alive he had been frankly rather idealised, so it was due for a reality check.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
In the 1960s she began modelling much more frankly organic shapes in plaster and then having the work cast in bronze.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
What do I mean by "frankly doctrinal"?
Christianity Today (2000)
The results are, frankly, terrifying.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
But the rest of us aren't much better, frankly.
The Sun (2015)
Some bits of data are, frankly, worrying.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
And which, frankly, sound much more interesting.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
In other languages
frankly
British English: frankly /ˈfræŋklɪ/ ADVERB
You use frankly when you are expressing an opinion or feeling to emphasize that you mean what you are saying.