dishonest

English

Etymology

From Middle English dishoneste (“dishonourable”), from Old French deshoneste, from Latin dehonestus. Equivalent to dis- +‎ honest. Displaced native Old English unsōþfæst.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈsɒnɪst/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈsɑnɪst/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /dɪzˈɒnɛst/, /dɪzˈɒnɪst/

  • Audio (Mid-Atlantic)

    (file)

Adjective

dishonest (comparative more dishonest, superlative most dishonest)

1. Not honest.
2. Interfering with honesty.
3. (obsolete) Dishonourable; shameful; indecent; unchaste; lewd.
   • 1713, Alexander Pope, “Windsor-Forest. […]”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:

     inglorious triumphs and dishonest scars

   • c. '1560, Thomas North, Archontorologion:

     speake dishonest word

4. (obsolete) Dishonoured; disgraced; disfigured.
   • 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Dishonest with lopped arms the youth appears, / Spoiled of his nose and shortened of his ears.

Antonyms

• honest

Related terms

• dishonesty
• dishonestly

Collocations

Collocations

• dishonest man
• dishonest person
• dishonest people
• dishonest act
• dishonest means
• dishonest way
• dishonest thing
• dishonest practices
• dishonest conduct
• dishonest behavior
• dishonest employee
• dishonest appropriation
• dishonest assistance
• dishonest gain

Translations

not honest

• Arabic: مُخَادِع (muḵādiʕ), غَشَاش (ḡašāš)

  Egyptian Arabic: مخادع (muḵādeʕ), غشاش (ḡašāš)

• Armenian: անազնիվ (hy) (anazniv)
• Belarusian: несумле́нны (njesumljénny), нячэ́сны (njačésny)
• Bulgarian: нече́стен (bg) (nečésten), непочтен (bg) (nepočten)
• Catalan: deshonest (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不誠實／不诚实 (bù chéngshí)

• Czech: nečestný, nepoctivý (cs)
• Danish: uærlig (da)
• Dutch: oneerlijk (nl), onoprecht (nl)
• Finnish: epärehellinen (fi)
• French: malhonnête (fr)
• German: unehrlich (de)
• Gothic: 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍄𐍃 (liuts)
• Greek: άτιμος (el) (átimos), ανέντιμος (el) (anéntimos)
• Hindi: बेईमान (hi) (beīmān)
• Hungarian: becstelen (hu)
• Hunsrik: uneherlich
• Irish: ainionraic, mí-ionraic, mímhacánta
• Italian: disonesto (it)
• Japanese: 不正直 (ふしょうじき, fushōjiki)
• Korean: 부정직하다 (ko) (bujeongjikhada)
• Latin: fraudulentus, perfidus
• Maori: raureka, tāhae
• Middle English: unhoneste
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uærlig

  Nynorsk: uærleg

• Old English: unsōþfæst
• Polish: nieuczciwy (pl) m
• Portuguese: desonesto (pt) m
• Romanian: necinstit (ro)
• Russian: нече́стный (ru) (nečéstnyj), бесче́стный (ru) (besčéstnyj)
• Sanskrit: कौट (sa) (kauṭa)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: нѐискрен

  Roman: nèiskren (sh)

• Slovene: neiskrén m
• Spanish: embustero (es), mentiroso (es), deshonesto (es)
• Swedish: oärlig (sv)
• Ukrainian: нече́сний (nečésnyj), несумлі́нний (nesumlínnyj)
• Welsh: anonest (cy)

Further reading

• “dishonest”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “dishonest”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “dishonest”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “dishonest”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “dishonest” (US) / “dishonest” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.

Anagrams

• hedonists, stonished

Middle English

Adjective

dishonest

1. Alternative form of dishoneste (“disgraceful”)