sincere

sincere, wholehearted, whole-souled, heartfelt, hearty, unfeigned can mean genuine in feeling or expression or showing such genuineness.

Sincere stresses the absence of hypocrisy, dissimulation, or falsification in any degree; it therefore usually connotes a strict adherence to truth, a revelation of just what one feels, thinks, or sees and no more, and an unwillingness to embellish, exaggerate, or make pretenses of any sort

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the loathing with which he describes the sodden Vienna working classes is ... so sincere that one thinks for a moment that out of it must come a people's rebel— Dorothy Thompson

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in spite of her confusion, something strong and sincere and questing emanated from her— Styron

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Wholehearted and whole-souled imply the absence of all reservations and therefore stress not only sincerity, but also qualities (as earnestness or devotion or zealousness) which suggest that one's whole being is stirred or moved

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the service they one and all gave . . . was wholehearted and even passionate— Sackville-West

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whole-souled dislike of totalitarianism

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who could help liking her? her generous nature, her gift for appreciation, her wholehearted, fervid enthusiasm?— L. P. Smith

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demonstrated a whole-souled allegiance to the democratic world— Limb)}

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Heartfelt places the emphasis upon the depth and genuineness of the feeling which finds expression in words, in signs of emotion (as tears), or in acts; the term suggests that one is deeply stirred or moved, and it is applied usually to what might, by contrast, be formally or conventionally expressed or outwardly indicated

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heartfelt interest in the poor and suffering

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our sympathy for you therefore is heartfelt, for we are sharing the same sufferings— Sir Winston Churchill

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Hearty comes closer to wholehearted than to heartfelt, but it carries a stronger implication than wholehearted of vigor or energy in expression or manifestation, and may connote simple honesty, great warmth, or exuberance in the display of feeling

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receive a hearty welcome

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a hearty laugh

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in the hearty tones natural when the words demanded by politeness coincide with those of deepest feeling— Hardy

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the overwhelming mass of American citizens are in hearty accord with these basic policies— Roosevelt

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Unfeigned is often used in place of sincere, especially when the absence of simulation is to be stressed; the term usually emphasizes spontaneousness as well as genuineness

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I confess to unfeigned delight in the insurgent propaganda— Lowes

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an unfeigned interest in people and scenes— Bruun

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Analogous words: candid, open, *frank, plain: honest, honorable, conscientious, scrupulous, *upright: *straightforward, aboveboard, forthright

Antonyms: insincere