sincerity

English

Etymology

From Middle French sincérité, from Latin sinceritas, sinceritatem, from sincerus + -tas.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɪnˈsɛɹəti/
• Rhymes: -ɛɹəti
• Hyphenation: sin‧cer‧i‧ty

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

sincerity (countable and uncountable, plural sincerities)

1. The quality or state of being sincere; honesty of mind or intention; freedom from simulation, hypocrisy, disguise, or false pretense.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     I protest, in the sincerity of love.

   • (Can we date this quote by Knox and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Sincerity is a duty no less plain than important.

   • (Can we date this quote by George Burns and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.

Synonyms

• honesty
• sincereness

Antonyms

• insincerity

Related terms

• sincere

Translations

quality of being sincere

• Catalan: sinceritat f
• Cebuano: sinceridad
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 真誠／真诚 (zh) (zhēnchéng), 真诚 (zh) (zhēnchéng), 真心 (zh) (zhēnxīn), 誠實／诚实 (zh) (chéngshí), 诚实 (zh) (chéngshí), 真摯／真挚 (zh) (zhēnzhì), 真挚 (zh) (zhēnzhì), 誠意／诚意 (zh) (chéngyì), 诚意 (zh) (chéngyì)

• Czech: upřímnost f
• Dutch: oprechtheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: sincereco
• Finnish: rehellisyys (fi), vilpittömyys (fi)
• French: sincérité (fr)
• German: Aufrichtigkeit (de) f, Ehrlichkeit (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀφελότης f (aphelótēs)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: egyenesség (hu), őszinteség (hu)
• Italian: sincerità (it) f
• Japanese: 誠実 (ja) (せいじつ, seijitsu), 誠意 (ja) (せいい, seii)
• Latin: sincēritās f
• Macedonian: искреност f (iskrenost)
• Malayalam: ആത്മാർത്ഥത (ātmāṟtthata)
• Portuguese: sinceridade (pt) f
• Romanian: sinceritate (ro) f
• Russian: и́скренность (ru) f (ískrennostʹ), открове́нность (ru) f (otkrovénnostʹ), че́стность (ru) (čéstnostʹ)
• Spanish: sinceridad (es) f

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “sincerity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)