dishonesty
/dɪsˈɒnɪsti
/noun (plural dishonesties) [mass noun]
1Deceitfulness shown in someone’s character or behaviour: the dismissal of thirty civil servants for dishonesty and misconduct...
- Cynicism and dishonesty characterize the administration of the program.
- It is taken as a truism by most people that dishonesty and yobbish behaviour are on the increase in society.
- There was no evidence of dishonesty or bad character with respect to either of them.
Synonyms
deceit, deception, duplicity, lying, falseness, falsity, falsehood, untruthfulness;
fraud, fraudulence, sharp practice, cheating, chicanery, craft, cunning, trickery, artifice, artfulness, wiliness, guile, double-dealing, underhandedness, subterfuge, skulduggery, treachery, perfidy, unfairness, unjustness, improbity, rascality, untrustworthiness, dishonour, unscrupulousness, corruption, criminality, lawlessness, lawbreaking, misconduct
informal crookedness, shadiness, foxiness, dirty tricks, kidology, shenanigans, monkey business, funny business, hanky-panky
British informal jiggery-pokery
North American informal monkeyshines
Irish informal codology
Law malfeasance
archaic management, knavery, knavishness
1.1 [count noun] A fraudulent or deceitful act: they are tackling the divisions and dishonesties on the campus...
- The author is able to bring forth an implied criticism of the hopelessness of the situations, or of the dishonesties and the hypocritical subterfuges of the adult world.
- His excellent history of the papacy catalogs many papal deceits, frauds, and intellectual dishonesties over the centuries.
- Finally, a major publication has taken up one of the key dishonesties in the President's argument for phasing out Social Security.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'dishonour, sexual misconduct'): from Old French deshoneste 'indecency' (see dishonest).