dishonest

[dis-on-ist]

adjective

1. not honest; disposed to lie, cheat, or steal; not worthy of trust or belief.

   a dishonest person.

   Synonyms: perfidious, deceitful, knavish, unscrupulous
   Antonyms: honest

2. proceeding from or exhibiting lack of honesty; fraudulent.

   a dishonest advertisement.

   Synonyms: false
   Antonyms: honest

dishonest

/ dɪsˈɒnɪst /

adjective

1. not honest or fair; deceiving or fraudulent

Other Word Forms

• dishonestly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of dishonest¹

1350–1400; Middle English dishoneste < Anglo-French, Old French deshoneste, equivalent to des- dis- ¹ + honeste honest

Synonym Study

See corrupt.

Example Sentences

Passing sentence, Judge Alexander Milne called him "profoundly dishonest" and a "corrupting influence" who had "left a trail of misery".

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Such misrepresentations allowed dishonest borrowers “to circumvent tighter underwriting guidelines imposed by lenders” and obtain lower interest rates.

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Azerbaijan’s president accused Russia of trying to cover up its role in the crash, saying that Russian authorities’ explanations—which initially faulted a flock of birds and an exploding gas cylinder—were “foolish and dishonest.”

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“My acting teacher told me that I would never work in front of a camera or on stage because I was dishonest in my performances,” he says.

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“And because of its importance, it’s an emergency, in my opinion, that Wikipedia is completely dishonest and completely controlled on questions that matter.”

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Related Words

• corrupt 
• crooked 
• deceitful 
• deceptive 
• false 
• fraudulent 
• misleading 
• shady 
• sneaky 
• underhanded 
• unfair 
• unprincipled 
• unscrupulous 
• untrustworthy 

When To Use

What does dishonest mean?

Dishonest is the opposite of honest—it’s used to describe someone or something as intentionally deceptive or not fully truthful in some way.When dishonest is used to describe a person, it usually means they are frequently or habitually untruthful—that they tend to lie often or that they often hide or leave out part of the truth.When dishonest is used to describe a thing, it usually implies that the thing is intentionally deceptive—that it’s intended to deceive people or mislead them through lies, the omission of all or parts of the truth, or the twisting of the truth.Just as the noun form of honest is honesty, the noun form of dishonest is dishonesty.Example: The article exposes the company’s dishonest business practices and the dishonest executives who promote them.