honestly

Adverb

honestly (comparative more honestly, superlative most honestly)

1. In an honest manner.
   • He answered the questions honestly.
   • You honestly quit your tools; quit a most muddy confused coil of sore work, short rations, of sorrows, dispiritments and contradictions, having now honestly done with it all; — and await, not entirely in a distracted manner, what the Supreme Powers, and the Silences and the Eternities may have to...1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “chapter XIII, Democracy”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern...

   Synonyms:

   candidly, sincerely, truthfully

   Antonyms:

   dishonestly

2. (sentence adverb) Frankly, to be honest.
   • Honestly, I didn't believe a word she said.
   • Under a popular Instagram post rounding up some of the most amusing memes generated from her BAFTAs performance, the actress commented on Monday, “Honestly I love this.”2023 February 21, Dan Heching, “Ariana DeBose ‘honestly loves’ the BAFTA memes but not the Twitter trolling”, in CNN, archived from the original on 08 Mar 2023

   Synonyms:

   as a matter of fact, in all honesty, in point of fact, in truth, above a bit, actually, all things considered, by right, certainly, come to think of it

3. (informal, sentence adverb) Expresses mild surprise or hesitation about one's own conclusion.
   • Alright, can I play, like, here at least? Maybe ENTIA?, I guess ENTIA. Or INIA?, maybe just INIA honestly, for 29. I think that's better than ENTIA here, the T seems pretty valuable, I really want to try to bingo.2025 July 4, Mack Meller, 8:53 from the start, in Clabbers Clash #7: IIICanteven

Interjection

1. Used to express exasperation, dismay, etc.
   • Honestly! I want to finish this work and you keep interrupting.

   Synonyms:

   really