I. dishonest transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English dishonesten, from Middle French deshonester, modification (influenced by deshoneste ) of Latin dehonestare, from de- + honestare to honor — more at honest
obsolete : to make dishonest : defame , dishonor , defile
II. dis·honest dəs, (ˈ)dis+ adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French deshoneste, from des- dis- (I) + honeste honest — more at honest
1. obsolete
a. : dishonorable , shameful
b. : indecent , unchaste , lewd
c. : disfigured, repulsive , unseemly
2. : characterized by lack of truth, honesty, probity, or trustworthiness or by an inclination to mislead, lie, cheat, or defraud : fraudulent
dishonest politicians
hoarding his dishonest gains
a dishonest report on his earnings
Synonyms:
deceitful , lying , mendacious , untruthful : dishonest may apply to any breach of honesty or trust, as lying, deceiving, cheating, stealing, or defrauding
a dishonest answer
while it would be dishonest to gloss over this weakness, one must understand it in terms of the circumstances that conspired to produce it — Lewis Mumford
a dishonest clerk fired for stealing
deceitful may imply an intent or inclination to mislead with the specious or spurious and conceal or distort truth or fact
a deceitful schemer
deceitful testimony
educators, above all others, ought to be able to look behind the fine phrase and the fair words, to lift the hooded robe or tear away the deceitful mask, and to expose double-talk for what it is — B.G.Gallagher
lying describes a disposition to falsehood, a habit of telling lies
a lying scoundrel
silly newspapers and magazines for the circulation of lying advertisements — G.B.Shaw
mendacious , a rather literary term, is a close synonym for lying; it may have benign or bland overtones
nothing would suit him but that they should go aboard the ships that caught his interest where the masters, hearing his quality, set out wine and told him mendacious tales of their trade — J.H.Wheelwright
untruthful is milder than lying and may center attention on the fact of discrepancy from truth or fact without suggestion of motive
an untruthful explanation for the accident
an untruthful account of the affair