on the level

1. Honest, without deception: “We doubted that the offer could be genuine, but it turned out to be on the level.”

Idioms and Phrases

Honest, straightforward, sincere, as in You can believe her—she's on the level. This expression may have come from Freemasonry, where the carpenter's level symbolizes integrity. [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

It’s not an accident that Cassidy held the hearing the day before that panel was set to meet to make its childhood vaccination schedule recommendations to the CDC, and the hearing displayed vividly—if it weren’t already obvious—that these recommendations might not entirely be on the level.

From Slate

It predicted a decline of between 78% and 100% by the end of the century, depending on the level of global warming.

From BBC

Private security for well-known celebrities, VIPs and business leaders can easily reach millions of dollars per year, depending on the level of threats and protection required.

From BBC

"You need to come from a starting point that is not dogmatically and self-avowedly left. If you do there'll be a strict ceiling on the level of support which is possible."

From BBC

Czech dissident-turned-statesman Vaclav Havel, in his famous essay “The Power of the Powerless,” described the Prague Spring not only as a “clash between two groups on the level of real power” but as the “final act … of a long drama originally played out chiefly in the theatre of the spirit and the conscience of society.”

From Los Angeles Times