SINCE 1828
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
Customers are on the honor system to pay for any software they choose to purchase.
Recent Examples on the Web
So in cities and small towns, a new breed of small community stores are trying things like work training, medical clinics, package-free products, and unstaffed stores on a customer honor system. — Recode Staff, Recode, "Recode Daily: Apple’s path to $1 trillion continues unabated," 1 Aug. 2018 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 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.
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