A secas

poli · #1 May 06, 2009, 06:47 AM

Does anyone know that it means? In context this is what was written,"no quiero ser un crítico a secas" I think it means merciless critic.

Ambarina · #2 May 06, 2009, 06:58 AM

A secas could be translated as "(just).... and nothing else"
i.e. "I don't want to be a (just) a critic and nothing else"
It could be that he doesn't want to be considered overly critical (a merciless critic, as you said) or that he considers himself to be something other than a critic or as well as being a critic he is something else. Depends on context.

**AngelicaDeAlquezar** · #3 May 06, 2009, 08:06 AM

I agree with Ambarina.

Some more examples:

-- ¿Cómo te llamas? (What's your name?)
-- María.
-- ¿María qué? (María who?)
-- María a secas. (Just María.)

Hay muchos tipos de bondad. No existe la bondad a secas.
There are many kinds of goodness. There is no such thing as simple goodness.

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A secas

An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not readily apparent based on the individual words in the expression. This forum is dedicated to discussing idioms and other sayings.