INSINCERITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does insincerity mean? 

• INSINCERITY (noun)
  The noun INSINCERITY has 1 sense:

1. the quality of not being open or truthful; deceitful or hypocritical

  Familiarity information: INSINCERITY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INSINCERITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of not being open or truthful; deceitful or hypocritical

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

falseness; hollowness; insincerity

Hypernyms ("insincerity" is a kind of...):

untruthfulness (the quality of being untruthful)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "insincerity"):

hypocrisy (insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have)

Antonym:

sincerity (the quality of being open and truthful; not deceitful or hypocritical)

Derivation:

insincere (lacking sincerity)

 Context examples 

She had been used before to feel that he could not be always quite sincere, but now she saw insincerity in everything.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

There was something of Mr. Pickwick’s benevolence in his appearance, marred only by the insincerity of the fixed smile and by the hard glitter of those restless and penetrating eyes.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Elinor blushed for the insincerity of Edward's future wife, and replied, This compliment would effectually frighten me from giving any opinion on the subject had I formed one.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Elinor saw, and pitied her for, the neglect of abilities which education might have rendered so respectable; but she saw, with less tenderness of feeling, the thorough want of delicacy, of rectitude, and integrity of mind, which her attentions, her assiduities, her flatteries at the Park betrayed; and she could have no lasting satisfaction in the company of a person who joined insincerity with ignorance; whose want of instruction prevented their meeting in conversation on terms of equality, and whose conduct toward others made every shew of attention and deference towards herself perfectly valueless.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The instant her voice broke off, ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)