integrity
in-TEG-rih-teenounMeaning the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles
Memory hook INTEGER = WHOLE: honest all through. Like a whole number, Rosa is honest all the way through: she finds a wallet full of cash and returns every dollar to its owner. She has integrity.
A person of integrity keeps a promise even when no one would ever find out.
In context When the cashier handed her twenty dollars too much in change, Rosa showed her integrity: she walked back across the parking lot to return it.
Similar honesty, honor, uprightness, principle
Opposite dishonesty, corruption, deceit
From Latin integritas, “wholeness,” from integer, whole: the same word as the integer of math.