# integrity

Pronunciation: say "in-TEG-ruh-tee" /ɪnˈtɛɡɹəti/

## Noun

1. The quality of holding firmly to strict moral or ethical principles.
   - Simple: Always doing what is right, even when it is hard.
   - _The judge's integrity was never questioned, even by lawyers who lost cases before her._
   - _He resigned rather than compromise his integrity by signing the falsified report._
2. Trustworthiness; the quality of reliably keeping one's word.
   - Simple: Being honest and doing what you said you would do.
   - _Contractors known for their integrity get repeat business without ever advertising._
   - _Her integrity meant a handshake deal was as good as a signed contract._
3. The state of being whole and unimpaired; soundness of condition.
   - Simple: The state of being whole and not damaged or broken.
   - _Divers inspected the hull's integrity after the collision with the dock._
   - _Years of water damage had quietly compromised the integrity of the foundation._
4. The state of being whole and complete, or of being pure and unmixed.
   - Simple: The quality of being complete, with nothing missing or mixed in.
   - _The treaty guaranteed the territorial integrity of both nations._
   - _Editors preserved the integrity of the manuscript, publishing it without cuts or additions._
5. The assurance that information has not been altered by unauthorized parties in a way that authorized users cannot detect.
   - Simple: Keeping data safe so no one can secretly change it without being noticed.
   - _A checksum lets the receiver verify the integrity of the transmitted file._
   - _The audit revealed that the database's integrity had been compromised months earlier._
6. The ability of a navigation system to provide timely warnings to users when it should not be relied on for navigation.
   - Simple: How well a navigation system can warn people quickly when its directions should not be trusted.
   - _Aviation authorities require GPS augmentation to improve the integrity of approach guidance._
   - _The system's integrity ensures pilots are alerted within seconds of a signal fault._

## Origin

Borrowed from Middle French "intégrité," from Latin "integritas" ("soundness, integrity"), from "integer." It is a doublet of "entirety."

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