honestly

honestly

English

Etymology

From Middle English honestly, honestlyche, honestliche, equivalent to honest +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑnɪstli/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒnɪstli/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hon‧est‧ly

Adverb

honestly (comparative more honestly, superlative most honestly)

1. (manner) In an honest manner.

   He answered the questions honestly.

2. Frankly, to be honest.

   Honestly, I didn't believe a word she said.

Synonyms

• (honest manner): candidly, sincerely, truthfully; see also Thesaurus:honestly
• (frankly): as a matter of fact, in all honesty, in point of fact, in truth; see also Thesaurus:actually

Translations

in an honest manner

Belarusian: чэ́сна (čésna), шчы́ра (ščýra) Bulgarian: че́стно (bg) (čéstno), и́скрено (bg) (ískreno) Catalan: honestament (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 正直地 (zh) (zhèngzhí de) Czech: čestně, upřímně Esperanto: honeste Finnish: rehellisesti (fi) French: honnêtement (fr), franchement (fr) German: ehrlich (de) Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐍆𐌴𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰 (gafēhaba) Hungarian: őszintén (hu), becsületesen Italian: onestamente (it) Japanese: 正直に (ja) (しょうじきに, shōjiki ni) Korean: 솔직히 (ko) (soljikhi) Macedonian: искрено (iskreno) Ngazidja Comorian: ha namna ya nyongoha Norman: honnêtement Norwegian: Bokmål: helt ærlig Polish: uczciwie (pl), szczerze (pl) Portuguese: honestamente (pt) Russian: че́стно (ru) (čéstno), и́скренне (ru) (ískrenne) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: и̏скрено Roman: ȉskreno (sh) Slovak: čestne, úprimne Spanish: honestamente (es), francamente (es) Swedish: uppriktig (sv), sanningsenlig (sv) Ukrainian: че́сно (čésno), щи́ро (ščýro) Volapük: snatiko, snato, stedäliko, stedälo (vo)

(speech act) frankly

Bulgarian: и́скрено (bg) (ískreno) Hungarian: őszintén szólva (hu) Norwegian: Bokmål: helt ærlig, ærlig talt Russian: и́скренне (ru) (ískrenne) Swedish: ärligt talat Welsh: wir i ti

Interjection

honestly

1. Used to express exasperation, dismay, etc.

   Honestly! I want to finish this work and you keep interrupting.

Synonyms

• really

Translations

used to express exasperation or dismay

Bulgarian: наистина? (bg) (naistina?) Chinese: Cantonese: 真係, 真系 (zan1 hai6) Mandarin: 真是 (zh) (zhēnshi) Japanese: まったく (ja) (mattaku) Norwegian: Bokmål: ærlig talt

Anagrams

• on the sly

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• honesteliche, honestelie, honestely, honestli, honestliche, honestlyche, onestelike, onestely, onestli, onestly

Etymology

From honeste (“honourable, appropriate, excellent”) +‎ -ly (adverbial suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔnɛst(ə)liː/, /ˈɔnɛst(ə)lit͡ʃ(ə)/

Adverb

honestly

1. honourably, respectfully, nobly
2. respectably, appropriately, politely
3. tastefully, splendidly
4. ethically, virtuously

Descendants

• English: honestly

References

• “honestlī(che, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.