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dishonest

[dis-on-ist]
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adjective
  1. not honest; disposed to lie, cheat, or steal; not worthy of trust or belief: a dishonest person.
  2. proceeding from or exhibiting lack of honesty; fraudulent: a dishonest advertisement.

Origin of dishonest

1350–1400; Middle English dishoneste < Anglo-French, Old French deshoneste, equivalent to des- dis-1 + honeste honest
Related formsdis·hon·est·ly, adverb

Synonyms

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1. unscrupulous, knavish, deceitful, perfidious. 2. false.

Synonym study

1. See corrupt.

Antonyms

1, 2. honest.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for dishonest

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • "If you think it dishonourable or dishonest—" said Beaufort, irresolutely.

    Night and Morning, Complete

    Edward Bulwer-Lytton

  • I dare say it was because I had been so dishonest myself just before.

    Wilfrid Cumbermede

    George MacDonald

  • And is any mode of acquisition, even if unjust and dishonest, equally to be deemed virtue?

    Meno

    Plato

  • And then Jed Winslow did what was perhaps the first dishonest thing he had ever done.

    Shavings

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • In fact he wrote that he thought it all wrong, deceitful, bordering on the dishonest.

    Shavings

    Joseph C. Lincoln

British Dictionary definitions for dishonest

dishonest

adjective
  1. not honest or fair; deceiving or fraudulent
Derived Formsdishonestly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dishonest

adj.

late 14c., from Old French deshoneste (13c., Modern French déshonnête) "dishonorable, horrible, indecent," perhaps from a Medieval Latin or Gallo-Romance compound of Latin dis- "not" (see dis-) + honestus "honorable" (see honest). The Latin formation was dehonestus. Related: Dishonestly.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper