Wiktionary

sincere

See also: Sincere, sinceré, and sincère

English

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Etymology

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From Middle French sincere, from Latin sincerus (“genuine”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“together”) (whence English sam) + *ḱer- (“grow”) (whence Latin Ceres, the goddess of harvest, etymon of cereal).

Not from sine (“without”) + cera (“wax”), a folk etymology; see Wikipedia page.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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sincere (comparative more sincere or sincerer, superlative most sincere or sincerest)

  1. Genuine; meaning what one says or does; heartfelt.
    I believe he is sincere in his offer to help.
    • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter III, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book I (The Feast of Pikes), page 19:
      Tumid blustering, with more or less of sincerity, which need not be entirely sincere, yet the sincerer the better, is like to go far.
    • 1967 June, Drake Maynard, If, volume 17, number 6, page 160:
      My sincerest apologies to Brother Ron Smith in the December ish.
    • 2003, “The Outsider”, performed by A Perfect Circle:
      If you choose to pull the trigger, should your drama prove sincere
      Do it somewhere far away from here
  2. Meant truly or earnestly.
    She gave it a sincere if misguided effort.
    • 1996, Macy Nulman, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer, page 161:
      The message that through sincere teshuvah and resolution, light and gladness can be achieved by all, is most fitting for the opening of the Yom Kippur service.
  3. (archaic) clean; pure

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Translations

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Esperanto

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Etymology

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sincera +‎ -e

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /sinˈt͡sere/
  • Rhymes: -ere
  • Hyphenation: sin‧ce‧re

Adverb

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sincere

  1. sincerely

Antonyms

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Italian

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Adjective

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sincere f pl

  1. feminine plural of sincero

Anagrams

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Latin

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Etymology 1

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Adverb

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sincērē (not comparable)

  1. uprightly, honestly, frankly, sincerely
    • 1st century, Catullus, Poem 109
      Di magni, facite ut vere promittere possit // atque id sincere dicat ex animo

Etymology 2

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Adjective

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sincēre

  1. vocative masculine singular of sincērus

References

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  • “sincere”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “sincere”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Middle French

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Etymology

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First attested in 1441, borrowed from Latin sincērus.[1]

Adjective

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sincere m or f (plural sinceres)

  1. sincere (genuinely meaning what one says or does)

Descendants

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  • French: sincère
  • → English: sincere

References

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  1. ^ Etymology and history of “sincère”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Spanish

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Verb

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sincere

  1. inflection of sincerar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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