1. honest(a = adj.all) honorable - not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent; "honest lawyers"; "honest reporting"
Antonym: dishonest
Derived form noun honestness1
2. honest(s = adj.all) - without dissimulation; frank; "my honest opinion"
Derived form noun honestness1
3. honest(s = adj.all) dependable, reliable, true - worthy of being depended on; "a dependable worker"; "an honest working stiff"; "a reliable sourcSFLe of information"; "he was true to his word"; "I would be true for there are those who trust me"
Derived form noun honestness1
4. honest(s = adj.all) - without pretensions; "worked at an honest trade"; "good honest food"
5. honest(s = adj.all) - marked by truth; "gave honest answers"; "honest reporting"
Derived form noun honestness1
6. honest(s = adj.all) good - not forged; "a good dollar bill"
7. honest(s = adj.all) fair - gained or earned without cheating or stealing; "an honest wage"; "an fair penny"
1. Decent; honorable; suitable; becoming. Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
"Belong what honest clothes you send forth to bleaching!" [1913 Webster]
2. Characterized by integrity or fairness and straightforwardness in conduct, thought, speech, etc.; upright; just; equitable; trustworthy; truthful; sincere; free from fraud, guile, or duplicity; not false; -- said of persons and acts, and of things to which a moral quality is imputed; as, an honest judge or merchant; an honest statement; an honest bargain; an honest business; an honest book; an honest confession. [1913 Webster]
"An honest man's the noblest work of God." [1913 Webster]
"An honest physician leaves his patient when he can contribute no farther to his health." [1913 Webster]
"Look ye out among you seven men of honest report." [1913 Webster]
"Provide things honest in the sight of all men." [1913 Webster]
3. Open; frank; as, an honest countenance. [1913 Webster]
4. Chaste; faithful; virtuous. [1913 Webster]
"Wives may be merry, and yet honest too."
To adorn; to grace; to honor; to make becoming, appropriate, or honorable. Abp. Sandys. [1913 Webster]
honest, adj. & adv.
--adj.
1 fair and just in character or behaviour, not cheating or stealing.
2 free of deceit and untruthfulness, sincere.
3 fairly earned (an honest living).
4 (of an act or feeling) showing fairness.
5 (with patronizing effect) blameless but undistinguished (cf. WORTHY).
6 (of a thing) unadulterated, unsophisticated.
--adv. colloq. genuinely, really.
Idiom:
earn (or turn) an honest penny earn money fairly. honest broker a mediator in international, industrial, etc., disputes (orig. of Bismarck). honest Injun colloq. genuinely, really. honest-to-God (or -goodness) colloq. adj. genuine, real.
--adv. genuinely, really. make an honest woman of colloq. marry (esp. a pregnant woman).
Etymology:
ME f. OF (h)oneste f. L honestus f. honos HONOUR
N artlessness, nature, simplicity, innocence, bonhomie, naivete, abandon, candor, sincerity, singleness of purpose, singleness of heart, honesty, plain speaking, epanchement, rough diamond, matter of fact man, le palais de verite, enfant terrible, artless, natural, pure, native, confiding, simple, lain, inartificial, untutored, unsophisticated, ingenu, unaffected, naive, sincere, frank, open, open as day, candid, ingenuous, guileless, unsuspicious, honest, innocent, Arcadian, undesigning, straightforward, unreserved, aboveboard, simple-minded, single-minded, frank-hearted, open-hearted, single-hearted, simple-hearted, free-spoken, plain-spoken, outspoken, blunt, downright, direct, matter of fact, unpoetical, unflattering, in plain words, in plain English, without mincing the matter, not to mince the matter, Davus sum non Oedipus, liberavi animam meam, as frank as rain on cherry blossoms.
N purity, decency, decorum, delicacy, continence, chastity, honesty, virtue, modesty, shame, pudicity, pucelage, virginity, vestal, virgin, Joseph, Hippolytus, Lucretia, Diana, prude, pure, undefiled, modest, delicate, decent, decorous, virginibus puerisque, simon-pure, chaste, continent, virtuous, honest, Platonic, virgin, unsullied, cherry, as chaste as unsunn'd snow, a soul as white as heaven, 'tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity, to the pure all things are pure.
N probity, integrity, rectitude, uprightness, honesty, faith, honor, bonne foi, good faith, bona fides, purity, clean hands, fairness, fair play, justice, equity, impartiality, principle, even-handedness, grace, constancy, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, incorruption, incorruptibility, trustworthiness, truth, candor, singleness of heart, veracity, tender conscience, punctilio, delicacy, nicety, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, scruple, point, point of honor, punctuality, dignity, (repute), respectability, respectableness, gentilhomme, gentleman, man of honor, man of his word, fidus Achates, preux chevalier, galantuomo, truepenny, trump, brick, true Briton, white man, court of honor, a fair field and no favor, argumentum ad verecundiam, upright, honest, honest as daylight, veracious, virtuous, honorable, fair, right, just, equitable, impartial, evenhanded, square, fair and aboveboard, open and aboveboard, white, constant, constant as the northern star, faithful, loyal, staunch, true, true blue, true to one's colors, true to the core, true as the needle to the pole, marble-constant, true- hearted, trusty, trustworthy, as good as one's word, to be depended on, incorruptible, straightforward, frank, candid, open-hearted, conscientious, tender-conscienced, right-minded, high-principled, high-minded, scrupulous, religious, strict, nice, punctilious, correct, punctual, respectable, reputable, gentlemanlike, inviolable, inviolate, unviolated, unbroken, unbetrayed, unbought, unbribed, innocent, pure, stainless, unstained, untarnished, unsullied, untainted, unperjured, uncorrupt, uncorrupted, undefiled, undepraved, undebauched, integer vitae scelerisque purus, justus et tenax propositi, chivalrous, jealous of honor, sans peur et sans reproche, high-spirited, supramundane, unworldly, other-worldly, overscrupulous, honorable, bona fide, on the square, in good faith, honor bright, foro conscientiae, with clean hands, a face untaught to feign, bene qui latuit bene vixit, mens sibi conscia recti, probitas laudatur et alget, fidelis ad urnam, his heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth, loyaute m'oblige, loyaute n'a honte, what stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?.
N veracity, truthfulness, frankness truth, sincerity, candor, unreserve, honesty, fidelity, plain dealing, bona fides, love of truth, probity, ingenuousness, the truth the whole truth and nothing but the trut, honest truth, sober truth, unvarnished tale, light of truth, truthful, true, veracious, veridical, scrupulous, sincere, candid, frank, open, straightforward, unreserved, open hearted, true hearted, simple-hearted, honest, trustworthy, undissembling &c (dissemble), guileless, pure, truth- loving, unperjured, true blue, as good as one's word, unaffected, unfeigned, bona fide, outspoken, ingenuous, undisguised, uncontrived, truly, in plain words, in truth, with truth, of a truth, in good truth, as the dial to the sun, as the needle to the pole, honor bright, troth, in good sooth, in good earnest, unfeignedly, with no nonsense, in sooth, sooth to say, bona fide, in foro conscientiae, without equivocation, cartes sur table, from the bottom of one's heart, by my troth, di il vero a affronterai il diavolo, Dichtung und Wahrheit, esto quod esse videris, magna est veritas et praevalet, that golden key that opes the palace of eternity, veritas odium parit, veritatis simplex oratio est, verite sans peur.