Honest means telling the truth when a lie would be easier. Handing in a wallet you found on the pavement, telling the cashier she gave you too much change, admitting it was you who broke the plate.
It covers people and the things they do: an honest answer, an honest face, an honest day's work for honest pay. An honest mistake is a genuine one with no lie in it — honest there means innocent rather than truthful, which surprises learners. To be honest opens a sentence when something blunt is coming: to be honest, I did not like it. The noun is honesty, the adverb honestly, the opposite dishonest. And watch the h: it is silent, so honest sounds like onnest and takes an, not a — an honest man.
1adjectivehonestTelling the truth and not cheating, stealing or deceiving.~80%
“She is honest to a fault and it costs her jobs.”
2adjectivecandidGenuine and sincere, without pretence.~18%
“I want your honest opinion, not the polite one.”
3adjectivefairEarned by fair work rather than by cheating.~2%
“He made an honest living driving a delivery van.”
synonyms: fair, legitimate
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 11 sentences found in the wild and placed 11 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Also accepted in games: truthful
Honest came through Middle English from Old French honeste and Latin honestus, from honor. In Middle English it meant honourable or fitting rather than truthful, and the narrowing to truth-telling came later. It displaced the Old English word sōþfæst, which is literally truth-firm.
Old English
sōþfæst
Latin
honestus
Old French
honeste
Middle English
honest
English, today
honest
Built from
From Middle English honest, honeste (“honourable, appropriate, excellent”), from Old French honeste, from Latin honestus, from honor. For the verb, see Latin honestāre (“to clothe or adorn with honour”), and compare French honester. Displaced native Old English sōþfæst literally “truth-firm”.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA