Above-board

//əˈbʌvˌbɔɹd// adj, adv

adj, adv ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    In open sight; without trick, concealment, or deception. not-comparable

    "fair and aboveboard"

Adverb
  1. 1
    Honestly; openly. not-comparable

Synonyms

All synonyms
artlesscandidcandidlydirectforthrightfrank

Example

More examples

"Nothing illegal about any of this to my knowledge. Indeed, this is the very above-board racket of running an independent political committee. Everyone does it. Left, right, center and none of the above. And anyway, why shouldn't a true pay-triot get paid?"

Etymology

From above + board (“table”). First attested in 1610. Said by Johnson to have been borrowed from gamblers, who, when they change their cards, put their hands under the table.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.