Word.ws English Dictionary

honest John

honest John noun: an ordinary, honest, member of the public.

Noun

honest John (plural honest Johns)

  1. (idiomatic) An ordinary, honest, member of the public
    • The high street was a place of utility once, with concentrated amenities. It was a place of wildly fluctuating codes of behaviour and scruples. Particular smells. Finicky proprietors. Honest johns. Crooks.2020 September 1, Tom Lamont, “The butcher's shop that lasted 300 years (give or take)”, in The Guardian

Forms of honest John

pluralhonest Johns

Questions about honest John

What does honest John mean?
Honest John means an ordinary, honest, member of the public.
What part of speech is honest John?
Honest John is a noun.
What is the plural of honest John?
The plural of honest John is honest Johns.

Words near honest John in the dictionary

  1. honest brokers
  2. honest comment
  3. honest Indian
  4. honest injun
  5. honest injuns
  6. honest John
  7. honest Johns
  8. honest mistake
  9. honest mistakes
  10. honest to God
  11. honest to gods

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: honest John (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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