sincerity

English

Etymology

From Middle English sinceritie, from Old French sincerité and Medieval Latin sincēritas; both from Latin sincēritas, from sincērus + -tās. Equivalent to sincere +‎ -ity.

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.

   • c. 1779-1790, Vicesimus Knox, Essays Moral and Literary

     If the shew of any thing be good for any thing, I am sure sincerity is better

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: ειλικρίνεια (el) f (eilikríneia)

  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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.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.)