good faith
- noun
- /ɡʊd feɪθ/
- There's no reason to believe that the prosecution has not acted in good faith.
- act in good faith
- negotiate in good faith
- good faith negotiations
And So what they felt was in good faith or bad faith, I don't know.
- And So what they felt was in good faith or bad faith, I don't know.
- But I, I, I do hear more people willing to ask the questions in good faith and to really try to engage.
- And how many are, you know, essentially people not acting in good faith?
- But I know how many people get their news from this network and they're watching in good faith.
- They will do it in all good faith, but they will still be false.
- I'm very thorough and, and, and I can't really in good faith always say no to an opportunity.
- This unaccountable jungle was created by politicians in all good faith.
Examples
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The government and the Fed will not punish banks as long as they make a good faith effort to work with borrowers.
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You went into this relationship in good faith and there were good days and those were real too.
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You do it in good faith as children do most things.
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I came to you in good faith.
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But I, I, I do hear more people willing to ask the questions in good faith and to really try to engage.
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India once again called for transparent, good faith negotiations to meet all concerns.
Academic text (1997) -
The employer was held to a duty of loyalty and good faith in dealing with the employee.
Academic text (1996) -
With new peace talks on the horizon, some sign of good faith by both rebel groups would also help.
Academic text (1999) -
They were made in good faith and on the basis of what I honestly knew and believed.
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The lawyer acted in good faith when drafting the contract, ensuring both parties were treated fairly.
Synonyms
A feeling of being honest and not pretending
How Sincere
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'honest or sincere intention' is directly and compositionally built from 'good' (positive, proper) modifying 'faith' (trust/confidence), so a learner who knows both words can infer a meaning of genuine or honest trust/intent. This adjectival + noun pattern is cross-linguistically common (e.g., Spanish 'buena fe', French 'bonne foi'), so the phrase is readily comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Good faith comes from the simple idea that good means 'honest' and faith means 'trust'. Imagine someone giving a firm handshake to show they can be trusted; that picture explains why good faith means acting with 'honest' and 'sincere' intention, not trying to trick someone.