integrity
Americannoun
-
integrities
plural
-
adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
- Antonyms:
- dishonesty
-
the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished.
to preserve the integrity of the empire.
-
a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition.
the integrity of a ship's hull.
noun
-
adherence to moral principles; honesty
-
the quality of being unimpaired; soundness
-
unity; wholeness
Synonym Usage
See honor.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of integrity
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English integrite, from Latin integritās; see integer, -ity
Explanation
Integrity is a personal quality of fairness that we all aspire to — unless you're a dishonest, immoral scoundrel, of course. Having integrity means doing the right thing in a reliable way. It's a personality trait that we admire, since it means a person has a moral compass that doesn't waver. It literally means having "wholeness" of character, just as an integer is a "whole number" with no fractions. Physical objects can display integrity, too — if you're going over a rickety old bridge that sways in the wind, you might question its structural integrity.
Vocabulary lists containing integrity
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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This Week in Words: August 25 - 31, 2018
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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.
See Examples For:
“He was a beacon of light — full of laughter, friendship, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to serving our community,” Gordon told the paper.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
A few weeks after that initial email, Cofnas published a post on Substack under the title “DEI Fraud and Cover-Up at Cambridge,” in which he cast doubt on the academic integrity of Arday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Kyrgios was very outspoken about their cases, considering them to be overly lenient and described the tennis integrity system as "awful".
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
“So I will act with integrity, our prosecutors will act with integrity, we will prosecute without fear or any sort of favor, and that’s exactly what we have been doing.”
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026
I had managed to resist, the inferno with a certain integrity, but when I felt so much support, I broke down.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
“There is no information to hide; there are institutional integrities to preserve,” they wrote.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 17, 2019
And forthright includes those intellectual and moral integrities which are essential to the maintenance of our republic.
From Time Magazine Archive
Conscious of their several responsibilities, and in the light of their various integrities, they wrote carefully and in low key.
From Time Magazine Archive
Men bring together a few generosities and integrities.
From A Man's Value to Society Studies in Self Culture and Character by Newell Dwight Hillis
Deep down, he divined, were the integrities and the stabilities.
From Burning Daylight by Jack London
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
