honest

[ on-ist ]

adjective

1. truthful; ethical; fair; not lying or cheating:

   She's an honest person.

   Synonyms: scrupulous, principled, moral, incorruptible, good, ethical, conscientious, veracious, truthful, trustworthy, just, honorable, fair

   Antonyms: unconscionable, immoral, dishonest, corrupt, untruthful, mendacious, lying, dishonorable, unscrupulous, unprincipled, unethical

2. showing uprightness and fairness; not deceitful:

   Honest dealings remain central to the corporation's core values.

   Synonyms: upright

3. gained or obtained fairly:

   honest wealth.

4. sincere; frank; candid:

   He has an honest face.

   Give me your honest opinion.

   Synonyms: unaffected, sincere, simple, natural, ingenuous, guileless, genuine, artless, up-front, unreserved, unguarded, straightforward, straight, plain-spoken, plain, outspoken, out-front, open-hearted, open, free-hearted, free-spoken, frank, foursquare, forthright, forthcoming, direct, candid, aboveboard

   Antonyms: phony, insincere, guileful, disingenuous, artificial, artful, affected

5. genuine or unadulterated:

   honest commodities.

   Synonyms: unadulterated, pure, true, sure-enough, real, genuine, echt, bona fide, authentic, actual

   Antonyms: sham, pseudo, phony, mock, fake, bogus

6. respectable; having a good reputation:

   an honest name.

   Synonyms: reputable, estimable

   Antonyms: disreputable

7. reliable in accuracy or truth; true; just:

   honest weights.

   Synonyms: reliable, precise, faithful, exact, accurate, trusty

   Antonyms: unreliable

8. humble, plain, or unadorned.
9. Archaic. chaste; virtuous.

honest

/ ˈɒnɪst /

adjective

1. not given to lying, cheating, stealing, etc; trustworthy
2. not false or misleading; genuine
3. just or fair

   honest wages

4. characterized by sincerity and candour

   an honest appraisal

5. without pretensions or artificial traits

   honest farmers

6. archaic.
   (of a woman) respectable
7. honest broker
   honest broker a mediator in disputes, esp international ones
8. honest Injun slang:school.
   honest Injun interjection genuinely, really
9. honest to God
   honest to Godhonest to goodness
   1. adjective completely authentic
   2. interjection an expression of affirmation or surprise
10. make an honest woman of
    make an honest woman of to marry (a woman, esp one who is pregnant) to prevent scandal

Derived Forms

• ˈhonestness, noun

Other Words From

• hon·est·ness noun
• o·ver·hon·est adjective
• o·ver·hon·est·ly adverb
• o·ver·hon·est·ness noun
• qua·si-hon·est adjective
• qua·si-hon·est·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of honest¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English honeste, from Middle French, from Latin honestus “honorable,” equivalent to hones- (variant stem of honōs ) honor + -tus adjective suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of honest¹

C13: from Old French honeste, from Latin honestus distinguished, from honōs honour

Idioms and Phrases

• come by (honestly)
• open (honest) and aboveboard

Example Sentences

What matters is being honest, humble, and a faithful and loyal friend, father and member of your community.

From The Daily Beast

The Times of Israel even applauded Netanyahu for finally being honest about his views on the issue of Palestine.

From The Daily Beast

To be honest, I think a lot of good essay writing comes out of that.

From The Daily Beast

There is a brutally honest section of the book about how you fell out of love with your wife, and essentially chose soccer.

From The Daily Beast

So I’m sitting with my daughter and all of her friends—who are 13—and she says ‘Dad, can I be honest with you?

From The Daily Beast

With childlike confidence he follows the advice of some more or less honest dealer.

From Project Gutenberg

Sometimes necessity makes an honest man a knave: and a rich man a honest man, because he has no occasion to be a knave.

From Project Gutenberg

They will reach you by the hands of Mr. Mackenzie, a worldly-minded Scotch merchant, but honest as to earthly things.

From Project Gutenberg

If they are still Moderns and alive, I defy you to bury them if you are discussing living questions in a full and honest way.

From Project Gutenberg

A world that has known five years of fighting has lost its taste for the honest drudgery of work.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• authentic
• conscientious
• decent
• equitable
• fair
• forthright
• genuine
• honorable
• impartial
• proper
• reliable
• sincere
• straightforward
• true
• trustworthy
• virtuous