good faith

English

Etymology

Calque of Anglo-Norman bone fei, Middle French bonne foy and Old French bonne foy, en bone fei (“loyally, with honesty, with sincere intention”) (modern French bonne foi (“good faith”), de bonne foi (“in good faith, in earnest”)), from Latin bona fidēs (“good faith”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɡʊd ˈfeɪθ/

Noun

good faith (uncountable)

1. Good, honest intentions, even if producing unfortunate results. [from between 1890 and 1895]

   He made a mistake, but acted in good faith.

   Although this behavior may look suspicious, we should assume good faith.

   • 2023 May 31, Mel Holley, “Network News: ASLEF recommends £71,000 pay deal for TfW drivers”, in RAIL, number 984, page 20:

     "This is further proof that ASLEF is willing to negotiate in good faith and modernise our railway. And further proof that the failure of negotiations with the TOCs in England is the responsibility of Transport Secretary Mark Harper, the Department for Transport, and the Rail Delivery Group. That has been laid bare for all to see."

   • 2023 October 5, Victoria Bekiempis, “FTX co-founder testifies he committed crimes with Sam Bankman-Fried”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     “Sam didn’t defraud anyone. Sam didn’t intend to defraud anyone. Sam acted in good faith,” the defense lawyer Mark Cohen said. “There was no theft.”

Antonyms

• bad faith

Translations

good, honest intentions

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 誠意／诚意 (zh) (chéngyì), 誠實／诚实 (zh) (chéngshí), 善意 (zh) (shànyì)

• Czech: dobrá víra f
• Finnish: vilpitön mieli, hyvä usko
• French: bonne foi (fr) f
• German: Treu und Glauben (de), guter Glaube m, bestes Wissen und Gewissen n
• Hungarian: jóhiszeműség (hu)
• Italian: buona fede f
• Japanese: 誠意 (ja) (せいい, seii), 誠実 (ja) (せいじつ, seijitsu)
• Latin: bona fidēs f
• Polish: dobra wiara
• Portuguese: boa-fé (pt) f
• Russian: добросо́вестность (ru) f (dobrosóvestnostʹ), че́стное наме́рение n (čéstnoje namérenije), и́скренность (ru) f (ískrennostʹ)
• Samoan: pona fitesi
• Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can
• Sicilian: bona fidi f
• Slovene: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: buena fe (es) f
• Swedish: god tro
• Tongan: pona fitesi
• Turkish: iyi niyet (tr)
• Ukrainian: до́брий на́мір m (dóbryj námir)
• Vietnamese: thiện ý (vi), thành tín (vi)
• Welsh: didwylledd (cy) m

Adjective

good faith (comparative more good faith, superlative most good faith)

1. Having or done with good, honest intentions; well-intentioned.

   A good faith buyer.

   A good faith attempt.

   • 2023 April 1, Jonathan Weisman, “Trump and Fox News, Twin Titans of Politics, Hit With Back-to-Back Rebukes”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     A day later, after years of arguing that Fox News was hardly fair and balanced, they could read a judge’s finding that Fox had not conducted “good-faith, disinterested reporting” on Dominion.

2. Presuming that all parties to a discussion are honest and intend to act in a fair and appropriate manner.

   Good faith bargaining.

   • 1983 December 31, Christine Guilfoy, “Gay Man in California Granted Survivor Benefits”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 24, page 1:

     The California Workers Compensation Appeals Board, in awarding the benefits, overturned a 1978 ruling which held that a gay lover could not qualify as a "good faith" dependent.

Alternative forms

• good-faith

Related terms

• bona fide
• mala fide

Translations

well-intentioned

• German: gutgläubig (de)
• Hungarian: jóhiszemű (hu)
• Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can
• Slovene: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: iyi niyetli (tr)
• Ukrainian: сумлі́нний m (sumlínnyj), че́сний m (čésnyj)
• Vietnamese: có thiện ý
• Welsh: didwyll (cy)

Further reading

• good faith on Wikipedia.Wikipedia