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, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [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 (zh), 真诚 (zh) (zhēnchéng), 真心 (zh) (zhēnxīn), 誠實 (zh), 诚实 (zh) (chéngshí), 真摯 (zh), 真挚 (zh) (zhēnzhì), 誠意 (zh), 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)

• 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: ആത്മാര്‍ത്ഥത (ātmār‍tthata)
• 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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.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, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)