Words / D / Law

dishonesty

noun/dɪsˈɒnɪsti/

A2CEFR level
15/100Rarity: common
TechnicalRegister

Conduct that ordinary people would regard as dishonest, a required element of many acquisitive offences.

The jury had to decide whether the defendant's conduct met the legal standard of dishonesty.

Similar: deceit, fraudulence

Topic: Criminal law in Legal English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More law words: Criminal law