the best policy
9
3.1
- idiom
:
la mejor política
- Honesty is the best policy in all cases.
- honesty is the best policy
Because in their mind, full frontal honesty is the best policy, right?
- Because in their mind, full frontal honesty is the best policy, right?
- But so we've been told for many years, diversity is our strength and multiculturalism is, you know, it's the best policy.
- Sorry, honesty is the best policy someone after that goes as a gifted Reddit wordsmith once wrote.
Examples
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Honesty is the best policy.
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Honesty, it really is the best policy.
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In the long term, honesty is not the best policy.
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I believe honesty is the best policy.
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And honesty is usually the best policy, so I've decided to go with option three.
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Honesty is the best policy here; the rep will appreciate your directness.
Academic text (2014) -
I believe that honesty is the best policy when dealing with difficult situations.
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In any business, transparency and honesty are considered the best policy for building trust.
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When faced with a dilemma, remember that keeping it honest is the best policy.
Synonyms
22
1.3
A choice that is most suitable among other choices
1
4.2
The best way to do something when there are several options
Antonyms
How Sensible
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from best (most suitable) + policy (a guiding plan): the superlative signals the most sensible or effective course of action. This is a common, cross-linguistic evaluative construction and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
The best policy comes from old advice like 'honesty is the best policy', where a policy is a rule or plan and best means the most sensible choice. So, thinking of someone picking the clearest, safest plan helps you remember it means 'the most sensible or effective course of action'.