/ Sign up
English (UK)

Meaning of dishonest in English

dishonest
adjective
uk
/dɪˈsɒn.ɪst/ us
/dɪˈsɑː.nɪst/
Add to word list Add to word list
B2
not honest:
a dishonest lawyer
a dishonest way of making money
morally dishonest
intellectually dishonest
dishonest in/about He's been dishonest in his dealings with us/about his past.
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
deceiving others and not telling the truth
  • dishonestThe press called out the campaign's dishonest tactics.
  • untrustworthyHe made the mistake of basing his news story on an untrustworthy source.
  • deviousIt was a devious plan - but would it work?
  • deceitfulShe's deeply deceitful and not to be trusted.
See more results »
More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Dishonest
See more results »

Related words

dishonestly
dishonesty
(Definition of dishonest from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

dishonest | American Dictionary

dishonest
adjective
us
/dɪsˈɑn·əst/
Add to word list Add to word list
not honest:
He’s been dishonest with us, and I’ll never trust him again.

dishonesty

noun [ U ] us
/dɪsˈɑn·ə·sti/
(Definition of dishonest from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of dishonest

dishonest
A set of players, a constant fraction of which are dishonest, are trying to elect a common leader.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
More than 70 % of the respondents felt that most people were basically dishonest.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
They know that some of the informants may be forgetful, mistaken, dishonest, or motivated by a desire for publicity or even revenge.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
This more rigorous enforcement of social laws also helps address the problem of unreliable, dishonest or malicious agents operating in the open environment.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
For instance, to be untruthful to any degree in any context is dishonest.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Note, however, that a debt-for-nature swap that is marginally favourable to an honest government is always unfavourable to a dishonest one.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
They observed that 21 years later, advertising continues to use dishonest language as well as other sophisticated means to sell products and services.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Some "white lies" are not dishonest at all, and some would be borderline cases.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Secondly, when the pooling equilibrium in model 3 applies, also dishonest countries' behaviour is affected in the same way, by assumption.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Other things being equal, it makes sense to say that honest actions are morally 'superior' or 'better' than dishonest ones.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
From the outset, then, the army is presented in a negative light, and its representative, the recruiting sergeant, as dishonest.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
However, some jokes are dishonest, since they do not respect the very spirit of what they are alluding to, typically the allegory of the prisoners.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Claims of objectivity could be seen as a shallow and dishonest cloak for a political agenda.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
It also sought to present an alternative to ' traditional politicians ' seen as corrupt, clientelistic, and dishonest.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The allegations received by the provveditori in 1619 provided uncommonly detailed descriptions of the ' dishonest acts ' which had occurred between priest and nuns.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of dishonest?
 

Translations of dishonest

in Chinese (Traditional)
不誠實的，不老實的，不正直的…
See more
in Chinese (Simplified)
不诚实的，不老实的，不正直的…
See more
in Spanish
deshonesto, fraudulento, deshonesto/esta [masculine-feminine]…
See more
in Portuguese
desonesto, desleal, desonesto/-ta [masculine-feminine]…
See more
in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Russian
in Telugu
in Arabic
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
अप्रामाणिक…
See more
不正直な, 不正直（ふしょうじき）な…
See more
sahtekâr, yalancı, düzenbaz…
See more
malhonnête, qui fait preuve de mauvaise foi…
See more
deshonest, fraudulent…
See more
oneerlijk…
See more
நேர்மையற்ற / நேர்மையில்லாத…
See more
बेईमान, कपटी, धूर्त…
See more
અપ્રમાણિક, કપટી, ધૂર્ત…
See more
uærlig, upålidelig…
See more
oärlig…
See more
tidak jujur…
See more
unehrlich…
See more
uærlig, løgnaktig, uhederlig…
See more
بے ایمان…
See more
нечесний, несумлінний…
See more
нечестный…
See more
నిజాయతి లేకుండా…
See more
غَيْر شَريف, غَشّاش…
See more
অসৎ…
See more
nepoctivý…
See more
tidak jujur…
See more
ไม่ซื่อสัตย์…
See more
không trung thực…
See more
nieuczciwy…
See more
부정직한…
See more
disonesto…
See more
Need a translator?

Get a quick, free translation!

Translator tool
 

Browse

dishearteningly
disheveled
dishevelled
dishoarding
dishonest
dishonestly
dishonesty
dishonor
dishonorable

Word of the Day

shell

UK
/ʃel/
US
/ʃel/

the hard outer covering of something, especially nuts, eggs, and some animals

About this

Blog

Fakes and forgeries (Things that are not what they seem to be)

New Words

applejuicification

More new words
has been added to list
To top
Contents
EnglishAmericanExamplesTranslations
English (UK)   Change
English (UK) English (US) Español Русский Português Deutsch Français Italiano 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Polski 한국어 Türkçe 日本語 Tiếng Việt Nederlands Svenska Dansk Norsk हिंदी বাঙ্গালি मराठी ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు Українська
Follow us
Choose a dictionary
  • Recent and Recommended
  • Definitions
    Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English
    English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
  • Grammar and thesaurus
    Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English
    Grammar Thesaurus
  • Pronunciation
    British and American pronunciations with audio
    English Pronunciation
  • Translation
    Click on the arrows to change the translation direction.
    Bilingual Dictionaries
    • English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
    • English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
    • English–Dutch Dutch–English
    • English–French French–English
    • English–German German–English
    • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
    • English–Italian Italian–English
    • English–Japanese Japanese–English
    • English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
    • English–Polish Polish–English
    • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
    • English–Spanish Spanish–English
    • English–Swedish Swedish–English
    Semi-bilingual Dictionaries
    English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Danish English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese
  • Dictionary +Plus
    Word Lists
Contents
My word lists

To add dishonest to a word list please sign up or log in.

Sign up or Log in
My word lists

Add dishonest to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

More
Go to your word lists
Tell us about this example sentence: