honor system
nounDefinition of honor system
: a system (as at a college) whereby persons are trusted to abide by the regulations (as for a code of conduct) without supervision or surveillance
Examples of honor system in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Take a cinematic cruise down the long flat farm roads, cooing at highland cattle and relaxed quarter horses or stop to collect a local farmer’s bounty in exchange for a few dollars in the honor system jar. — Kaitlyn Wylde, Vogue, "What’s So Great About Great Barrington? A Weekend Guide to the Quietly Cool Berkshire Town," 25 Oct. 2018 Unlike wage earners who have their income separately reported to the IRS, business owners are often on the honor system. — Paul Kiel, The Seattle Times, "Hobbled by budget cuts, the IRS brings fewer tax fraud cases," 2 Oct. 2018 The breakfast and lunch restaurant operated on a version of the honor system. — Jacques Kelly, baltimoresun.com, "George Hummel, deli owner, musician and pool player, dies," 3 May 2018 But the agency's financial review process is primarily an honor system and seems to miss obvious conflicts. — Charles Piller, Science | AAAS, "Hidden conflicts? Pharma payments to FDA advisers after drug approvals spark ethical concerns," 5 July 2018 So each time a major fire devastates the Great Plains, an informal but robust hay delivery kicks into gear, powered by Facebook messages, word of mouth and the honor system. — Mitch Smith, New York Times, "In Fire-Scorched Oklahoma, Help Comes One Bale at a Time," 29 Apr. 2018 On the way, stop at Gospel Flat Farm Stand, a casual, 24-hour roadside kiosk stocked with fresh produce that operates on the honor system. — San Francisco Chronicle, "One Day, One Place: Bolinas and Stinson Beach," 17 May 2018 Citing four unnamed White House officials, CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported Tuesday on the ban imposed this year on personal cellphones in the West Wing: The ban isn't based on an honor system. — Callum Borchers, Washington Post, "Trump’s White House sounds like a trust-free zone," 16 May 2018 This old-fashioned honor system recently caught the eye of the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), which wrote a feature story on the unique paper. — Southern Living, "This Small Alabama Newspaper’s Chair-And-Cigar-Box Honor System Has Been Operating for 100 Years," 4 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'honor system.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on honor system
What made you want to look up honor system? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
Late Autumn 2018 Words of the Day Quiz
-
- Which is a synonym of yahoo?
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZ
Share honor system
Resources for honor system