# honesty

Pronunciation: US say "ON-uh-stee" /ˈɑnəsti/; UK say "ON-is-tee" /ˈɒn.ɪ.sti/; AUS say "AWN-is-tee" /ˈɔn.ɪ.sti/

## Noun

1. The quality or condition of being honest: truthful, fair, and free from deceit.
   - Simple: The quality of being truthful and not cheating or lying.
   - _The committee praised the witness for her complete honesty under questioning._
   - _Honesty between business partners prevents many costly disputes._
2. Any of several plants in the genus Lunaria, members of the mustard family, often grown as ornamentals for their flat, silvery, translucent seedpods.
   - Simple: A garden plant with flat, round seedpods that turn silvery and see-through when dry.
   - _Gardeners often grow honesty for the silvery, paper-thin discs left after its flowers fade._
   - _A clump of honesty had spread across the shady corner of the old garden._

## Noun

3. Honorable standing marked by decency, integrity, and proper conduct. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Honorable, decent behavior that earns respect from others.
4. Chastity; sexual purity, especially a woman's abstention from sex outside marriage. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Sexual purity, especially not having sex outside of marriage.

## Origin

From Middle English honeste ("honor, integrity"), from Old French honesté (compare modern French honnêteté). The plant takes the name from the visibility of its seeds through the translucent pods. It displaced the native Old English sōþfæstnes and the Middle English prodonomee (from Old French prodomie).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/honesty (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).