Meanings
- idiomaticHonest(ly), sincere(ly), straightforward(ly), fair(ly).
He looks like a used car salesman, but he's really on the level, so you can trust him.
2 more examples
While I believe that the American people and the players want the game to be on the level, there are two or three things which, it strikes me, are not up to a high standard of honor.
1912 August, Christy Mathewson, “Play Clean Ball”, in Boys' Life, page 7"On the level, honey, I have an all-time, big-time need for coffee."
1959, Marc Brody, Low Dive for Lola, page i. 9Synonyms: above board, on the square, on the up and up
- Synonym of on the square (“discreet reference to freemasonry”).
Synonyms: on the square
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseHonest(ly), sincere(ly), straightforward(ly), fair(ly).
prepositional phraseSynonym of on the square (“discreet reference to freemasonry”).
Origin
See the Citations page for examples showing the sense evolution.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
on the level. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20level
“on the level.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20level. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on the level,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20level.
Source: on the level on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.