Other

honest

Syllabification: (hon·est)

Pronunciation: /ˈänist/

Definition of honest

free of deceit and untruthfulness; sincere:I haven’t been totally honest with you
morally correct or virtuous:I did the only right and honest thing
[attributive] fairly earned, especially through hard work:struggling to make an honest living
(of an action) blameless or well intentioned even if unsuccessful or misguided:he’d made an honest mistake
[attributive] simple, unpretentious, and unsophisticated:good honest food with no gimmicks

[sentence adverb] informal

used to persuade someone of the truth of something:you’ll like it when you get there, honest

Phrases

make an honest woman of: dated or humorous marry a woman, especially to avoid scandal if she is pregnant.
[honest here originally meant 'respectable', but was probably associated with the archaic sense 'chaste, virtuous']
to be honest: speaking frankly:I’ve never been much of a movie buff, to be honest

Middle English (originally in the sense 'held in or deserving of honor'): via Old French from Latin honestus, from honos (see honor)

Definition of honest in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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