Word.ws English Dictionary

above the board

above the board is the dated form of above board.

Meaning of above board

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) Openly, without deceit.
    • '[…] And he explained this business of confidential commissions?' / 'Yes, he did. And it seemed to turn out quite respectable and above board.' Mrs Meatyard considered. 'Or almost above board.2001, Michael Inne, A Family Affair, page 82
  2. (idiomatic) Honestly, reputably.
    • They conducted the negotiations completely above board.

Questions about above the board

What is above the board the dated form of?
Above the board is the dated form of above board.

Words near above the board in the dictionary

  1. above one's station
  2. above oneself
  3. above par
  4. above proof
  5. above stairs
  6. above the board
  7. above the curve
  8. above the fold
  9. above the fray
  10. above the law
  11. above the line

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: above the board (page history and authors); above board (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “above the board.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/above_the_board. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.