honesty
/ˈɒnəsti/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈɑːnəsti/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈä-nə-stē/ (ame, mw)
honesty — noun
1. the quality of always telling the truth and acting in a fair, sincere way, witho
the quality of always telling the truth and acting in a fair, sincere way, without lying, cheating, or hiding facts from others.
Shirin's honesty earned her the trust of the whole office.
earn trust through honesty
The teacher praised Kwame for his honesty when he admitted copying part of his essay.
honesty + admitting wrongdoing
Anong built her small shop's reputation on honesty and fair prices.
Ravindra chose honesty over profit and returned the extra payment to the customer.
A family culture of honesty helps children learn to value truthfulness from an early age.
- truthfulness
more specific — refers strictly to telling the truth, where honesty also covers fair conduct
- integrity
stronger moral weight — suggests a firm inner code that resists temptation
- sincerity
focuses on genuine feelings rather than factual accuracy
- straightforwardness
emphasises direct, uncomplicated communication
- dishonesty
the direct opposite — lying, cheating, or hiding the truth
- deceit
stronger than dishonesty — involves deliberate trickery to mislead
- fraud
limited to criminal or legal contexts — cheating for financial gain
文法句型
honesty (uncountable)
用法筆記
Commonly paired with nouns like trust, reputation, and integrity. Frequently appears in moral discussions paired with other virtues (honesty and loyalty, honesty and fairness).
常見錯誤
2. used when you want to make clear that you are speaking openly and directly, espe
used when you want to make clear that you are speaking openly and directly, especially before saying something that may be surprising, disappointing, or hard for the listener to accept.
In all honesty, Élise never thought the project would succeed.
discourse marker: 'In all honesty, [clause]'
To be honest, the restaurant was overpriced and the service was slow.
discourse marker: 'To be honest, [clause]'
Christopher said, in all honesty, that he had made a serious mistake during the meeting.
In all honesty, I do not think we can finish the renovation before winter.
- frankly
similar discourse function but slightly more formal
- to be honest
the most common synonym; interchangeable in most contexts
- truthfully
focuses on factual accuracy rather than the speaker's attitude
文法句型
In all honesty, [clause]
Honesty, [clause]
用法筆記
With the bare form Honesty (without 'in all'), the usage is highly informal and typically found in casual speech. The full phrase 'in all honesty' is neutral and acceptable in most spoken and written contexts, including interviews and opinion pieces.
3. a garden plant that produces flat, round, papery seed cases that become transluc
a garden plant that produces flat, round, papery seed cases that become translucent and silver-coloured when dry, often used in dried flower arrangements for decoration.
The dried honesty stems gave the winter bouquet a soft, silvery glow.
dried honesty used in decoration
Felipe planted honesty along the fence and enjoyed its purple flowers each spring.
The round seed pods of honesty are sometimes called silver dollars.
Asher pressed a sprig of honesty in his notebook to preserve its delicate papery discs.
Honesty grows well in most garden soils and self-seeds easily year after year.
- silver dollar plant
common nickname referencing the coin-like seed pods
- money plant
shared nickname with other plants (e.g. Pilea peperomioides); context disambiguates
- Lunaria
the scientific genus name, used in botanical contexts
文法句型
honesty [uncountable for the plant material]
honesty plant [countable]