Meanings
comparative more dishonest · superlative most dishonest
- Interfering with honesty.
- obsoleteDishonorable; shameful; indecent; unchaste; lewd.
speake dishonest word
c. 1560, Thomas North, Archontorologion1 more example
inglorious triumphs and dishonest scars
1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC - obsoleteDishonoured; disgraced; disfigured.
Dishonest with lopped arms the youth appears, / Spoiled of his nose and shortened of his ears.
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
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveNot honest; shoddy.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivedeceptive or fraudulent; disposed to cheat or defraud or deceive
adjectivecapable of being corrupted
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindehonestus
- Old Frenchdeshoneste
- Middle Englishdishoneste“dishonourable”
- Englishdishonest
From Middle English dishoneste (“dishonourable”), from Old French deshoneste, from Latin dehonestus. Equivalent to dis- + honest. Displaced native Old English unsōþfæst.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مُخَادِع, غَشَاش
- مُخَادِع (muḵādiʕ)not honest
- غَشَاش (ḡašāš)not honest
Bulgarian нече́стен, непочтен
- нече́стен (nečésten)not honest
- непочтен (nepočten)not honest
Catalan deshonest
- deshonestnot honest
Chinese Mandarin 不誠實 /不诚实
- 不誠實 /不诚实 (bù chéngshí)not honest
Czech nečestný, nepoctivý
- nečestnýnot honest
- nepoctivýnot honest
Danish uærlig
- uærlignot honest
Dutch oneerlijk, onoprecht
- oneerlijknot honest
- onoprechtnot honest
Estonian ebaaus
- ebaausnot honest
Finnish epärehellinen
- epärehellinennot honest
French malhonnête
- malhonnêtenot honest
German unehrlich
- unehrlichnot honest
Greek άτιμος, ανέντιμος
- άτιμος (átimos)not honest
- ανέντιμος (anéntimos)not honest
Hindi बेईमान
- बेईमान (beīmān)not honest
Hungarian becstelen
- becstelennot honest
Irish ainionraic, mí-ionraic
- ainionraicnot honest
- mí-ionraicnot honest
- mímhacántanot honest
Italian disonesto
- disonestonot honest
Japanese 不正直
- 不正直 (fushōjiki)not honest
Korean 부정직하다
- 부정직하다 (bujeongjikhada)not honest
Latin fraudulentus, perfidus
- fraudulentusnot honest
- perfidusnot honest
Māori raureka, tāhae
- raurekanot honest
- tāhaenot honest
Norwegian Bokmål uærlig
- uærlignot honest
Polish nieuczciwy
- nieuczciwynot honest
Portuguese desonesto
- desonestonot honest
Romanian necinstit
- necinstitnot honest
Russian нече́стный, бесче́стный
- нече́стный (nečéstnyj)not honest
- бесче́стный (besčéstnyj)not honest
Spanish embustero, mentiroso
- embusteronot honest
- mentirosonot honest
- deshonestonot honest
Swedish oärlig
- oärlignot honest
Ukrainian нече́сний, несумлі́нний
- нече́сний (nečésnyj)not honest
- несумлі́нний (nesumlínnyj)not honest
Welsh anonest
- anonestnot honest
Cite this entry
dishonest. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dishonest
“dishonest.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dishonest. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dishonest,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dishonest.
Source: dishonest on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.