honesty

honesty — noun

1. the quality of always telling the truth and acting in a fair, sincere way, witho

1.nounA2
Definition

the quality of always telling the truth and acting in a fair, sincere way, without lying, cheating, or hiding facts from others.

Example

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

Common collocations
  • complete honesty
  • absolute honesty
  • brutal honesty
  • honesty is the best policy
Synonyms
  • 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

Antonyms
  • 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

Grammar Patterns

honesty (uncountable)

Usage Note

Commonly paired with nouns like trust, reputation, and integrity. Frequently appears in moral discussions paired with other virtues (honesty and loyalty, honesty and fairness).

Common Mistakes

She is a honesty person.
She is an honest person.
Use the adjective honest, not the noun honesty, to describe a person.
I admire his honestly.
I admire his honesty.
Honestly is an adverb; honesty is a noun.

2. used when you want to make clear that you are speaking openly and directly, espe

2.nounB2
Definition

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.

Example

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]'

Synonyms
  • 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

Grammar Patterns

In all honesty, [clause]

Honesty, [clause]

Usage Note

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

3.nounC1
Definition

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.

Example

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.

Common collocations
  • dried honesty
  • honesty seed pods
  • honesty plant
  • honesty stems
Synonyms
  • 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

Grammar Patterns

honesty [uncountable for the plant material]

honesty plant [countable]

Idioms

in all honesty

idiom

used to emphasise that what you are saying is completely true and open, especially when the opinion may be unwelcome.

In all honesty, I did not enjoy the concert as much as I thought I would.

Talia told me in all honesty that my proposal needed a lot more work.

honesty is the best policy

idiom

used to say that telling the truth and acting honestly is the safest and most respected way to behave, even when it is difficult.

When I found the lost wallet I returned it, because honesty is the best policy.

His mother always told him that honesty is the best policy, and he never forgot it.

in (all) honesty

idiom

Used to say something that is true but might be disappointing or hard to accept.

In all honesty, I think the movie was too long.

Maya admitted, in honesty, that she had made a mistake.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Honesty is the broadest of these four words — it covers both truth-telling and fair, upright conduct. Truthfulness is narrower, focusing only on factual accuracy in speech. Integrity carries a stronger sense of inner moral strength: a person of integrity follows their principles even when no one is watching. Sincerity is about emotional genuineness rather than factual truth — you can sincerely believe something that turns out to be wrong. In everyday use, honesty and integrity often overlap: we trust someone with honesty because of their proven integrity. For example, returning a lost wallet is about honesty; refusing a bribe when desperately in need of money shows integrity.

honesty ↗integrity ↗truthfulnesssincerity ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Honesty entered English from Old French honesté, which came from Latin honestatem, meaning 'honour' or 'respectability'. The Latin root honestus originally meant 'respected' or 'honourable', from honor ('honour'). In Middle English the word carried the sense of 'honourable status' or 'good reputation', and only later shifted toward the modern core meaning of truthfulness and moral uprightness. The plant name (sense 3) arose because of the seed pods' transparent appearance, which metaphorically suggests openness and truth.