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honest

adjective · adverb

Simple meaning

Scrupulous with regard to telling the truth.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ahnuhst

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɑnəst

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. of a person or institution

    Scrupulous with regard to telling the truth; not given to swindling, lying, or fraud; upright.

  2. of a statement

    True, especially as far as is known by the person making the statement; fair; unbiased.

  3. In good faith; without malice.

  4. Open; frank.

  5. Earned or acquired in a fair manner.

  6. Authentic; full.

adverb

  1. colloquial

    Honestly; really.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (of a person or institution) Scrupulous with regard to telling the truth; not given to swindling, lying, or fraud; upright.

Used this way, honest is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It quietly approves while staying precise.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Careful and exacting
Usage feel
Precise and approving

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use honest

  • “Please be honest with me about what happened.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

honest womanhonest johnhonest efforthonest hearthonest fellowhonest living

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • honestynounDerived noun

    The quality of being honest.

  • honestlyadverbDerived adverb

    It is sincerely the case that.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • honest womannounCompound term

    A wife who has married a man with whom she has been living for some time (especially if she is pregnant at the time).

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: scrupulous with regard to telling the truth

true

Antonyms

Sense: scrupulous with regard to telling the truth

dishonest

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.