honest-to-goodness

honest-to-goodness (comparative more honest-to-goodness, superlative most honest-to-goodness)

1. (attributive only) Real; genuine.

   Is the clam chowder made with honest-to-goodness clams?

   • 1961 (republished 2010), Joseph Heller, Catch-22, London: Vintage Books, ISBN 978-0-09-955218-5, page 22:

     [']I'm a real, slam-bang, honest-to-goodness, three-fisted humdinger. I'm a bona fide supraman.' 'Superman?' Clevinger cried. 'Superman?' 'Supraman,' Yossarian corrected.

   • 2011, John Rogers, Clara Nickerson Boden, The Cut of Her Jib, page 82:

     Captain Mark heard about it; and dropped in after school to commend his protege. "Young lady, that's the most honest-to-goodness useful thing I ever heard hail from a schoolroom!"

honest-to-goodness (not comparable)

1. Alternative form of honest to goodness

• real McCoy