How to Use honest-to-goodness in a Sentence

honest-to-goodness

adjective
  • This is not what real, honest-to-goodness, ride-or-die friends do.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 18 Mar. 2026
  • The show hadn’t yet really showcased any real, honest-to-goodness rock.
    — Theoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 15 Aug. 2025
  • And this ability to reframe is an honest-to-goodness leadership skill.
    — Alexander Puutio, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
  • The Hornets are one more win away from an honest-to-goodness, legitimate playoff berth for the first time in a decade.
    — Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 16 Apr. 2026
  • Shifting the center differential between high and low and locking it was done via an honest-to-goodness shifter, too.
    — Peter Nelson, Forbes.com, 28 Jan. 2026
  • Trading the Blue Arrow offers you a window to author a real, honest-to-goodness makeover.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 8 June 2026
  • So what happens when an actual, bona fide, honest-to-goodness disaster is unfolding in real life instead?
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
  • In spring, Waukegan’s ravines are filled with flowing water and after recent heavy rains a swollen Waukegan River looks, well, like an honest-to-goodness river.
    — Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025
  • In Greater Cincinnati, our honest-to-goodness gems range from a battered sandwich shop in Norwood to a classy but oft-overlooked cocktail lounge downtown.
    — Keith Pandolfi, Cincinnati Enquirer, 9 Jan. 2026
  • Mora insinuated that an honest-to-goodness QB battle in FoCo could continue through the summer months.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 5 Apr. 2026
  • Ironically, an honest-to-goodness mummy movie consumed with exotica (the first one from 1932 was released in the wake of the global mania over King Tut’s tomb) makes a lot of sense right now, with America straying into foreign deserts.
    — Joshua Rothkopf, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2026
  • The 65-game requirement added to the 2023 collective bargaining agreement came as a response to load management, but actual, honest-to-goodness injuries threaten to make a mockery of it by leaving several of the league’s best players just a few games short of the threshold.
    — John Hollinger, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2026
  • There’s a particular poignance to Manousos giving this speech — an honest-to-goodness monologue by his standards — at the Darién Gap, amid the detritus of migrants who have shed their belongings to take this path from South to Central America.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 12 Dec. 2025
  • All-Star Friday featured future prospects in the Rising Stars event, plus an honest-to-goodness conference game involving Historic Black Colleges and Universities, Hampton and North Carolina A&T.
    — Jim Alexander, Oc Register, 16 Feb. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'honest-to-goodness.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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