sincere

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Carlyle was right: "No Mirabeau, Napoleon, Burns, Cromwell, no man adequate to do anything, but is first of all in right earnest about it; what I call a sincere man.

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Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Not feigned or affected; genuine: sincere indignation.
  2. adjective Being without hypocrisy or pretense; true: a sincere friend.
  3. adjective Archaic Pure; unadulterated.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (7)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • No Mirabeau, Napoleon, Burns, Cromwell, no man adequate to do anything, but is first of all in right earnest about it; what I call a sincere man. —  Sartor Resartus, and On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History
  • "I have always looked upon that sort of brutal intolerance as a form of religious mania--sincere, but still mania, and the story of it is the most awful chapter in human history Except, perhaps, the story of war," interrupted Professor Marmion, with a snap in his voice. —  The Mummy and Miss Nitocris A Phantasy of the Fourth Dimension
  • In the fact that this passionate appeal should be only half-sincere, or, if sincere, then only for the moment, that to her who hears it, it should seem wholly insincere, lies the intensity of the situation The character of the woman is less complex but not less consistent and convincing. —  An Introduction to the Study of Browning
  • Carlyle was right: "No Mirabeau, Napoleon, Burns, Cromwell, no man adequate to do anything, but is first of all in right earnest about it; what I call a sincere man. —  The Art of Public Speaking
  • He has not asked them to believe that what he says is true; he asks only that they shall believe that he is sincere, sincere in what he says, sincere, above all, when he implores that they should listen to the undertone. —  Aspects of Literature
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

honest ·  affectionate ·  frank ·  passionate ·  ardent ·  disinterested ·  loyal
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin sincērus; see ker-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also syncere; from Old French sincere, syncere, French sincére =Spanish Portuguese Italian sincero, from Latin sincerus, sound, uninjured, whole (applied in a physical sense to the body, limbs, skin, etc.), clean (applied to a vessel, jar, etc.), pure (applied to saffron, ointment, gems, etc.), unmixed (applied to a race, tribe, etc.), real, genuine (applied to various things); in a fig. sense, sound, uncorrupted; ult. origin unknown. The word is apparently a compound, but the elements are uncertain, and various views have been held: (a) Sincerus, literally ‘without wax,’ from sine, without, + cera, wax; explained as referring originally to clean vessels free from the wax sometimes used in sealing wine-jars, etc. This etymology is untenable. (b) Sincerus, literally ‘wholly separated,’ from sin-, ‘one,’ seen also in singuli, one by one, simplex, single, simple, semel, once, etc. (see same), + -cer in cernere (past participle cretus), separate: see concern, discern, (c) Sincerus, literally ‘entirely pure,’ from sin-, ‘same, ever.’ in L. simul, together, etc. (identical with sin- above), + -cerus for *scerus =Anglo-Saxon scīr, bright, pure, sheer: see sheer.
 

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/sɪnˈsir/
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