honest to God

Idioms

Also,; honest Injun. Truly, really, as in Honest to God, I didn't know it was yours, or Honest to goodness, we had exactly the same experience, or I promise I'll finish in time, honest to Pete, or Honest Injun, I didn't take your wallet. These colloquial assertions date from about 1900, except for honest Injun, dating from the late 1800s and today considered offensive.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Forrest is an extremely intelligent person, and honest to God, he does have psychological issues, but he knows what he’s doing,” Milligan said at the time.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2023

And honest to God, Dan, I can’t think of a single thing.

From Slate • Nov. 23, 2022

“I honest to God believe that 50, 75, 100 years from now, people will look back on this week, they’ll know that we met this moment.”

From Washington Post • Aug. 9, 2022

And I, honest to God, believe it reveals our soul — the soul of our nation.

From Seattle Times • May 6, 2022

“You honest to God think 1 oughtta call Trucho?”

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023