Should I consider myself hashtag-blessed that I have absolutely no idea what happened over there? Or woefully out-of-the-know?

Veridical reminds us that the truths we don’t necessarily invite in are often the ones worth voicing.

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📚 Sorta Synonyms: veracious, candid, "speaking truth to power"
🧰 Modern Equivalents: the steady honesty of a trusted friend, a documentary that refuses to soften its conclusion, the honest draft you were scared to write

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⚒️ Use It For
The data point that dismantles a beloved (but flawed) strategy.
Calling out a sentence that hits harder than even the writer intended.
The work of fiction that holds up a mirror to society so clearly it can feel more real than reality.

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🔥 Why We Need It Back
Because stories built from conviction outlast stories built for performance.
Because reality is often stronger than the most impressive marketing strategy.
Because we need to name the moment when the truth stops caring about your brand alignment.

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Odd thing is, it is the least used member of the "verus" family (words like verify, verdict, etc.) Probably because it refuses to flatter anyone.

Its unpopularity is, in its own way, deeply veridical.

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Over time the word made its way into philosophy, literature, and eventually psychology. It has remained more thoughtful, describing a quality of truth that is genuine and non-illusory, whether that appears in a statement, a story, or a character.

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You know, that haunting kind of truth that lingers even when you wish it wouldn't. To be veridical is, quite literally, to be "truth-speaking."

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Veridical comes from Latin veridicus, built from root words "verus" (true) and "dicere" (to say). By the early 1600s, veridical had slipped into English by adding the -al suffix to create and adjective describing statements, visions, or dreams that proved true.

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Veridical [vuh-RIH-dih-kuhl] (adj.): Truth-telling that refuses to be bent by wishful thinking.

Some words arrive with their sleeves rolled up, ready to cause trouble.

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