HONEST • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Honest

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/ˈɑnəst/ Listen

adjective

Honest adj.

Decent; honorable; suitable; becoming. "Belong what honest clothes you send forth to bleaching!"

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. "An honest man's the noblest work of God." "An honest physician leaves his patient when he can contribute no farther to his health." "Look ye out among you seven men of honest report." "Provide things honest in the sight of all men."

Open; frank; as, an honest countenance.

Chaste; faithful; virtuous. "Wives may be merry, and yet honest too."

Synonyms: Upright; ingenuous; honorable; trusty; faithful; equitable; fair; just; rightful; sincere; frank; candid; genuine.

verb

Honest v. t. To adorn; to grace; to honor; to make becoming, appropriate, or honorable. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Honest'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Honest" Quotes from Famous Books

... follow, even if the information was supplied by Mary, that it is therefore to be accepted as true. Human witnesses are not infallible or invariably honest, and it is conceivable that Mary may have been a dreamer or a deceiver. This article of the Creed, contradicting as it does the ordinary course of nature, stands in need of more than a historic statement. Jesus admitted that if His claims had been supported by no other evidence than ...

— Exposition of the Apostles Creed • James Dodds

... word its god the State, and which describes a was practically spirit of sympathy materialism, the result with all that is beaubeing simply mechanitiful, true, honest, cal efficiency, ...

— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 152, January 3, 1917 • Various

... may labour, we can only arrive at an inner conviction, not at objective certainty. All the glosses and asseverations in the world cannot carry us an inch beyond the due weight of the evidence vouchsafed to us. An honest and brave mind will accept manfully this condition of things, and not seek for infallibility where it can find none. It will adopt as its motto that noble saying of Bishop Butler—noble, because so unflinchingly true, though opposed ...

— The Gospels in the Second Century - An Examination of the Critical Part of a Work - Entitled 'Supernatural Religion' • William Sanday

... peace. He had moved West and been flung into the wild, turbulent life of the frontier. In the Big Creek country there was no peace for strong men in the seventies. It was a time and place for rustlers and horse-thieves to flourish at the expense of honest settlers. They elected their friends to office and laughed at ...

— The Sheriff's Son • William MacLeod Raine

... ancient and modern.' This was not true then," says Southey, "nor is it now." I differ from Southey, in thinking there is some truth in both ways of wearing the halter. For though it be neither manly nor honest to affect a voluntary humility (which is after all, a sneaking vanity, and would soon show itself if taken at its word), any more than it is well-bred, or seemly to put on (for it generally is put on) the "huffing manner," both such being ...

— Spare Hours • John Brown

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