dishonestly

adv

"dishonestly" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“dishonestly” is uncommon English (frequency #62,843 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#62,843
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In a dishonest manner.

Corpus desk

Index EN-dishonestly · dishonestly · English

dishonestly · rank #62,843 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #62,843
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH disdainful

Nearest frequency peer: disdainful (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “dishonestly”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “dishonestly” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for dishonestly
PropertyValue
Headworddishonestly
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters11
Frequency rank#62,843
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “dishonestly” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).dishonestlyfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “disdainful” (#62,842), “disassociate” (#62,841), “diz” (#62,845). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “dishonestly” is #62,843. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dishonestly is uncommon English at frequency #62,843 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "In a dishonest manner.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for dishonestly, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English dishonestly (“disgracefully”); equivalent to dishonest + -ly. The correct English form is dishonestly, spelled D-I-S-H-O-N-E-S-T-L-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    In a dishonest manner.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how dishonestly appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Section 13 of the 1968 Act enacts a separate offence of dishonestly abstracting electricity. The separate offence is needed because electricity, like other forms of energy such as heat, is not property.
  2. Some prominent conservative media figures on Monday dishonestly used the death of former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who died of Covid-19 complications, to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccines.

Etymology

From Middle English dishonestly (“disgracefully”); equivalent to dishonest + -ly.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "dishonestly"?
"dishonestly" is spelled D-I-S-H-O-N-E-S-T-L-Y.
What does "dishonestly" mean?
As an adverb, "dishonestly" means: In a dishonest manner.
What is the origin of the word "dishonestly"?
From Middle English dishonestly (“disgracefully”); equivalent to dishonest + -ly. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dishonestly", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list