Sincerely meaning: honestly, then a formal goodbye

Sincerely means honestly, without pretending. As a sign-off, it's the formal goodbye on cover letters and complaints. Use it for anyone you write to by name but have never met.

Last updated Oct 12 2026

Ewan ended his cover letter with Sincerely, then his full name and phone number.

What did they mean?

Filed under S jargon.

Sincerely, in a sentence and under a signature

Honest, as an adverb

Sincerely means in an honest way. “I sincerely hope the elevator is fixed by Monday” tells the reader you mean it. The root is a Latin word for whole, clean and unmixed.

A letter closing since 1702

The earliest record of sincerely as a letter sign-off is from 1702. It has stayed formal ever since, which is why it looks out of place in a chat window.

Yours sincerely, yours faithfully, sincerely yours

A reader you can name gets sincerely. A reader with only a job title gets faithfully.

Closing	When
Yours sincerely	A formal letter to a person you’ve named
Yours faithfully	Mainly British: a letter that opens “Dear Sir” or “Dear Madam”
Sincerely, or Sincerely yours	The American forms for a formal letter

Where sincerely still earns its place

Cover letters and applications

A cover letter is where sincerely fits best, because you’re writing to a stranger whose name you know. Put it on its own line after your last paragraph, with a comma, and your full name under it. Best regards can look too casual at the bottom of a PDF.

Sincerely and the youngest workers

Among Gen Z workers who sign off their emails, 35% write sincerely, second only to thanks.

Gen Z workers who sign off with sincerely	Share
British	40%
American	33%

Sincerely on paper and on screen

On paper, sincerely sits above a handwritten signature, with the typed name and job title below it. An email has no ink signature, and without one, sincerely can look like a letter that lost its envelope.

Official letters

The US Navy’s correspondence manual sets a closing for each kind of letter.

In the US Navy’s manual	Closing
Routine official letters from headquarters, including those to members of Congress	“Sincerely,”
Email to civilians	“Sincerely yours”
Email replies, depending on who outranks whom	V/R or R/
Thank-you notes and condolences	Warm regards
Personal letters to everyone else	Sincerely or all the best

Too stiff for colleagues

With people you see every day, sincerely reads like a letter from the bank. Colleagues use regards, best regards or cheers instead. If you can’t tell which of the three fits, each has its own entry in our plain-English jargon dictionary. For the moods in between, our list of ways to end an email sorts the rest by tone.

Sincerely in a signature block

Put sincerely in your email signature and it lands under every “ok” and “running 5 min late”. That makes it the one sign-off guaranteed to be insincere. Best regards holds up better in a signature.

The myth of the wax

Sine cera, without wax

The story goes that sincere comes from the Latin sine cera, “without wax”. It’s the kind of myth a keynote opens with. Dictionary makers reject it outright.

What the root probably was

The likelier roots are “of one growth”, meaning unmixed, or a lost Latin word for whole and intact. Nobody has settled which.

Sincerely, decoded

Sincerely on a complaint

Signing a complaint “sincerely” tells the reader you’ve gone formal. An email to facilities that opens “To whom it may concern” and closes with sincerely gets passed to someone else instead of answered.

Sincerely from the company

Companies sign off with sincerely on letters that change your terms, like a new retirement plan provider or a smaller bonus pool. A letter signed sincerely is rarely about a raise.

A cover letter signed sincerely

Subject: Application: Operations Coordinator, ref 2291
Dear Ms. Patel, please find my resume and cover letter attached for the Operations Coordinator role. I have run scheduling for a 40-person team for three years and can start in October.
~~Sincerely~~ Goodbye, Daniel Okafor

Sincerely in a sentence

Ewan ended his cover letter with Sincerely, then his full name and phone number.
The letter to the landlord about the broken elevator ended Sincerely, the staff of the 4th floor.
Sincerely felt too stiff for a thank-you email to the team, so Rui swapped it for Thanks.
We sincerely apologize for the payroll delay, Joost, and the money will arrive on Thursday.

Questions about sincerely

What does sincerely mean?

Honestly, meaning what you say. As a letter's sign-off it has worn down to a formal goodbye. Official letters still end with it, and so do cover letters and complaints.

What's a better word than "sincerely"?

For email, best regards or kind regards sound less stiff. A friendly note can end with warm regards or all the best. Save sincerely for formal letters and cover letters, where it still sounds right.

What is the full meaning of sincere?

Honest, with no pretense, so what you say matches what you think. The word comes from the Latin sincerus, which meant whole, clean and unmixed.

When to use sincerely in a letter?

In a formal letter to someone you've named in the greeting, such as a cover letter or a complaint. Americans write Sincerely or Sincerely yours, and the British write Yours sincerely.

Is it yours sincerely or yours faithfully?

Yours sincerely when the letter opens with the reader's name, as in "Dear Ms. Patel". Yours faithfully when it opens "Dear Sir or Madam", because you don't know their name. The pair is mainly British, and Australian government style follows the same rule.

Sources

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