dishonest

[dis-on-ist]

See more synonyms for dishonest on Thesaurus.com

adjective

not honest; disposed to lie, cheat, or steal; not worthy of trust or belief: a dishonest person.
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 for dishonest

See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com

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

Synonym study

1. See corrupt.

Antonyms for dishonest

1, 2. honest.

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

Related Words for dishonest

deceptive, unscrupulous, deceitful, sneaky, crooked, shady, unfair, unprincipled, fraudulent, misleading, corrupt, untrustworthy, underhanded, false, backbiting, bent, cheating, crafty, cunning, designing

Examples from the Web for dishonest

Contemporary Examples of dishonest

How can the police do that if the community views them as dishonest, or even dangerous?
Why Killer Cops Walk Free
Dean Obeidallah
August 26, 2014
Bureaucracies are inefficient and dishonest—maybe not intentionally . . . but because there are too many moving parts.
Mike Leach Tackles Geronimo the Motivational Murderer
James A. Warren
August 17, 2014
Trying to put the onus onto someone else for your own decisions is really cowardly and kind of dishonest.
Speed Read: Terry Richardson on Sex, Lies, and Lindsay Lohan
Justin Jones
June 16, 2014
She never lied to him or was dishonest to him, and we were very careful to point that out in the movie, but Tom needed to grow up.
Marc Webb Takes Us Inside ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ and Discusses His Rise to the A-List
Marlow Stern
March 15, 2014
Among them is a distinction between “honest graft” and “dishonest graft.”
Mayor Gray’s ‘Uncle Earl’ Confession
Jamelle Bouie
March 11, 2014

Historical Examples of dishonest

"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

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.