If you say that someone is insincere, you are being critical of them because they say things they do not really mean, usually pleasant, admiring, or encouraging things.
[disapproval]
Some people are so terribly insincere you can never tell if they are telling thetruth.
John found himself surrounded by insincere flattery.
Synonyms: deceitful, lying, false, pretended More Synonyms of insincere
insincerity (ɪnsɪnserɪti)uncountable noun
Too many superlatives lend a note of insincerity.
Synonyms: deceitfulness, hypocrisy, pretence, dishonesty More Synonyms of insincere
insincere in British English
(ˌɪnsɪnˈsɪə)
adjective
lacking sincerity; hypocritical
Derived forms
insincerely (ˌinsinˈcerely)
adverb
insincerity (ˌɪnsɪnˈsɛrɪtɪ)
noun
insincere in American English
(ˌɪnsɪnˈsɪr)
adjective
not sincere; deceptive or hypocritical; not to be trusted
Derived forms
insincerely (ˌinsinˈcerely)
adverb
Word origin
L insincerus
Examples of 'insincere' in a sentence
insincere
And it would be easy to be hypocritical and insincere.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
His insincere smiles tie your stomach into knots.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Speakers aren't usually arrogant or insincere or slick on purpose.
Christianity Today (2000)
Both are totally insincere, and both get away with it.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The more he tries to sound sincere, the more insincere he sounds.
The Sun (2012)
Which is why it also exposes politicians to one of the biggest dangers of all: being seen as insincere and hypocritical.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Conversations with people I loved sounded tinny and insincere.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Courtesy towards them would be insincere, hypocritical, pointless.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
For what it's worth, for once he sounds shockingly insincere.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
In other languages
insincere
British English: insincere /ˌɪnsɪnˈsɪə/ ADJECTIVE
If you say that someone is insincere, you are being critical of them because they say things they do not really mean, usually pleasant, admiring, or encouraging things.
Some people are so terribly insincere you can never tell if they are telling the truth.
American English: insincere
Arabic: غَيْرُ مُخَاصٌ
Brazilian Portuguese: insincero
Chinese: 虚假的
Croatian: neiskren
Czech: neupřímný
Danish: uoprigtig
Dutch: onoprecht
European Spanish: poco sincero
Finnish: teennäinen epärehellinen
French: hypocrite
German: unaufrichtig
Greek: ανειλικρινής
Italian: falso
Japanese: 誠意のない
Korean: 불성실한
Norwegian: uoppriktig
Polish: nieszczery
European Portuguese: hipócrita
Romanian: ipocrit
Russian: неискренний
Latin American Spanish: poco sincero
Swedish: falsk
Thai: ไม่จริงใจ
Turkish: samimiyetsiz
Ukrainian: нещирий
Vietnamese: không thành thực
Chinese translation of 'insincere'
insincere
(ɪnsɪnˈsɪəʳ)
adj
[person]不诚(誠)恳(懇)的 (bù chéngkěn de)
[words, flattery]虚(虛)假的 (xūjiǎ de)
[smile]虚(虛)伪(偽)的 (xūwěi de)
(adjective)
Definition
pretending what one does not feel
He found himself surrounded by insincere flattery.
Synonyms
deceitful
The ambassador called the report deceitful and misleading.
lying
that lying hound
false
She was a false friend, envious of her lifestyle and her success.
pretended
hollow
His hollow laugh had no mirth in it.
untrue
untrue to the basic tenets of socialism
dishonest
He had become rich by dishonest means.
deceptive
Her worst fault is a strongly deceptive streak.
devious
She tracked down the other woman by devious means.
hypocritical
It seems hypocritical to pay someone to do the dirty work for me.
unfaithful
They denounced him as unfaithful to the traditions of the Society.
evasive
He was evasive about the circumstances of their first meeting.
two-faced
He had been devious and two-faced.
disingenuous
his disingenuous claims of innocence
faithless
She decided to divorce her increasingly faithless and unreliable husband.
double-dealing
Slimy, double-dealing politicians have betrayed us all.
duplicitous
dissembling
mendacious
politicians issuing mendacious claims and counter-claims
perfidious (literary)
She says that politicians are a perfidious breed.
untruthful
Some people may be tempted to give untruthful answers.
dissimulating
Janus-faced
with tongue in cheek
Opposites
true
,
genuine
,
sincere
,
direct
,
earnest
,
faithful
,
straightforward
,
honest
,
truthful
,
dinkum (Australian, New Zealand, informal)
Additional synonyms
in the sense of deceptive
Her worst fault is a strongly deceptive streak.
Synonyms
dishonest,
deceiving,
fraudulent,
treacherous,
hypocritical,
crafty,
sneaky,
two-faced,
disingenuous,
deceitful,
untrustworthy,
underhand,
insincere,
duplicitous,
guileful
in the sense of devious
Definition
insincere and dishonest
She tracked down the other woman by devious means.