honest
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɒn.ɪst/
ipa: /ˈɔː.nɪst/
ipa: /ˈɑ.nɪst/
ipa: /ˈɑ.nəst/
note: Indic
ipa: /(h)ɔ.nɛsʈ/
rhymes: -ɒnɪst
rhymes: -ɔːnɪst
rhymes: -ɑnɪst
Forms: form: more honest
form: honester
form: most honest
form: honestest
Etymology: From Middle English honest, honeste (“honourable, appropriate, excellent”), from Old French honeste, from Latin honestus, from honor. For the verb, see Latin honestāre (“to clothe or adorn with honour”), and compare French honester. Displaced native Old English sōþfæst (literally “truth-firm”).
Senses: examples: text: brutally honest
text: We’re the most honest people you will ever come across.
text: A true and honest physician is excused for leaving his patient, when he finds the disease grown desperate
ref: c. 1680, William Temple, Of Popular Discontents:
glosses: Scrupulous with regard to telling the truth; not given to swindling, lying, or fraud; upright.
raw_tags: of a person or institution
examples: text: an honest account of events
text: honest reporting
synonyms: truthful
glosses: True, especially as far as is known by the person making the statement; fair; unbiased.
raw_tags: of a statement
examples: text: an honest mistake
glosses: In good faith; without malice.
examples: text: an honest scale
glosses: Accurate.
raw_tags: of a measurement device
examples: text: an honest day's work
glosses: Authentic; full.
examples: text: an honest dollar
glosses: Earned or acquired in a fair manner.
examples: text: an honest countenance
glosses: Open; frank.
examples: text: Behold what honest clothes you send forth to bleaching!
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
text: […] Vpon the verge of the Riuer there are fiue houſes, wherein liue the honeſter ſort of people, as Farmers in England, and they keepe continuall centinell for the townes ſecuritie.
ref: 1624, William Simons, “The Gouernment Returned againe to Sir Thomas Gates, 1611”, in Iohn Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, book 4; reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, … (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, →OCLC, page 111:
text: [T]here are Wolf-Whelps in Palaces, and Governments, as well as in Cottages, and Forreſts. […] They go out however, as there is Occaſion, and Hunt and Growle for Company; but at the ſame time, they give the Sign out of their Maſters hand, hold Intelligence with the Enemy; and Make uſe of their Power and Credit to Worry Honeſter Men them Themſelves.
ref: 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Æsop, &c.] Fab[le] CLV. A Shepherd and a Wolves Whelp [Reflexion].”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 140:
glosses: Decent; honourable; suitable; becoming.
examples: text: Wives may be merry, and yet honest too.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
glosses: Chaste; faithful; virtuous.
Synonyms: word: earnest
word: fair dinkum
word: forthright
word: upfront
word: foursquare
word: frank
word: genuine
word: honest
word: legitimate
word: on the level
word: on the up-and-up
word: square
word: straight
word: straight dinkum
word: straightforward
word: true
word: truthful
word: trustworthy
word: up front
word: veracious
word: veridical
Hypernyms: word: dependable
word: ethical
word: honorable
word: principled
word: reliable
word: responsible
word: righteous
word: scrupulous
Hyponyms: word: bona fide
word: candid
word: open
word: parrhesiastic
word: plain
word: sincere
word: unreserved
Derived terms: God honest truth
God's honest truth
honest as the day
honest broker
honest comment
honest Indian
honest injun
honest John
honestly
honest mistake
honestness
honest to God
honest-to-God
honest-to-gods
honest to gods
honest to goodness
honest-to-goodness
honest-to-Hannah
honesty
if I'm honest
in my honest opinion
keep someone honest
make an honest woman
overhonest
to be honest
Tukey's honest significance test
turn an honest penny
underhonest
unhonest
Related terms: word: truth
word: veracity