honesty

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honesty^¹

/ˈɒn.ɪ.sti/ UK
/ˈɒn.ə.sti/ UK
/ˈɒn.ə.stɪ/ UK
/ˈɔː.nɪstɪ/ UK, dated
/ˈɑ.nɪ.sti/ US, dialectal
/ˈɑ.nə.sti/ US, dialectal
/ˈɒn.ɪ.sti/ Canada, dialectal
/ˈɒn.ə.sti/ Canada, dialectal
/ˈɔn.ɪ.sti/ Australia
/ˈɔn.ə.sti/ Australia
/ɒn.ə.sti/ New Zealand
[ˈɔ̟n.ə.sti] New Zealand

Where it comes from

From Middle English honeste (“honour, integrity”), from Old French honesté (compare modern French honnêteté). By surface analysis, honest + -y. Displaced native Old English sōþfæstnes and non-native Middle English prodonomee, from Old French prodomie. The plant is named so after the visibility of the seeds through the translucent pods.

noun honesties

countable, uncountable The act, quality, or condition of being honest. academic / artistic / emotional / intellectual honesty
Similar: candor, sincerity, frankness, honesty, sincereness, truthfulness, veraciousness, veracity, veridicality
countable, obsolete, uncountable Honor; decency, propriety. Have ye no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night?
Similar: integrity, rectitude, uprightness, angelicality, angelicalness, angelicity, angelicness, decency, godliness, honesty, honor, probity
countable, obsolete, uncountable Chastity. […] spend all I have; only give me so much of your time in exchange of it, as to lay an amiable siege to the honesty of this Ford’s wife […]
Similar: chasteness, continence
countable Any of various crucifers in the genus Lunaria, several of which are grown as ornamentals, particularly annual honesty (Lunaria annua). Various measures were taken to avoid it, most popular being the suspension of certain herbs and tree branches over the doorways of dwellings and stables. Commonly used greenery were tansy, honesty, garlic, St. John's Wort, mountain ash, roadside verbena.

Opposite: dishonesty

Honesty^²

proper noun

A female given name.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: honestness, silver dollar, satinpod, money plant, lunaria annua, satin flower, honestly, truthful, sincerity, genuineness, sincere, truthfulness, honest, veracity, truth, fairness

noun

Opposite: dishonesty

Translations

Every language

noun quality of being honest

Español	honradez, sinceridad, honestidad
한국어	정직 jeongjik
日本語	正直 shōjiki
中文	誠實 /诚实 chéngshí
हिन्दी	सच्चाई saccāī
Português	honestidade
Français	honnêteté
Deutsch	Ehrlichkeit
Italiano	onestà, lealtà, correttezza
Ελληνικά	εντιμότητα entimótita, τιμιότητα timiótita, χρηστότητα christótita, ευσυνειδησία efsyneidisía, ηθικότητα ithikótita, ευθύτητα efthýtita
Română	onestitate
Русский	че́стность čéstnostʹ, добросовестность dobrosovestnostʹ, правди́вость pravdívostʹ, и́скренность ískrennostʹ
Tiếng Việt	tánh thành thật, tánh thanh liêm

noun ornamental plant

Español	monedas del Papa
Français	monnaie-du-pape
Deutsch	Mondviole, Silberblatt
Română	pana-zburătorului
العربية	not known in Arabic lands

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Cite this

MLA

"honesty." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/honesty. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

honesty. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/honesty

Chicago

"honesty." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/honesty.

BibTeX

@misc{honesty_2026,
  title = {honesty},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/honesty},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}