Ingenuous
What it means
Open, sincere, and lacking deliberate deception or sophistication.
Reach for it when praising candid innocence without confusing it with cleverness
Her ingenuous account included the uncertainty she could easily have hidden.
Words to choose between 6
| everyday | |
|---|---|
| warm | |
| professional | |
| literary |
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everyday
naive
Fits when limited experience leads to simple trust
Careful Naive is often critical and can erase the positive honesty in ingenuous.
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warm
Fits when emotional honesty and trust are the admired qualities
Careful Openhearted is warmer and less intellectual than ingenuous.
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warm
Fits when the feeling or statement is genuinely meant
Careful Sincerity does not imply openness or lack of sophistication.
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professional
Fits when honest direct expression is the main virtue
Careful Candid can be deliberate and sophisticated rather than innocent.
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literary
artless
Fits when natural expression seems free of calculation
Careful Artless can also mean lacking skill and may be misunderstood.
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literary
Fits when absence of cunning or manipulation deserves emphasis
Careful Guileless can imply vulnerability and may patronize an experienced person.
Opposites 3
- disingenuous
- calculating
- deceptive
Common phrases 4
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ingenuous smile
His ingenuous smile made the formal welcome feel genuine.
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ingenuous account
The diary offers an ingenuous account of the expedition's early optimism.
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seem ingenuous
The proposal may seem ingenuous until its financial assumptions are examined.
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ingenuous manner
Her ingenuous manner made the admission sound candid rather than rehearsed.
Usage notes
Keep in mind
Ingenuous means candid or innocently open. It is not a spelling variant of ingenious, which means cleverly inventive.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Vealhurl, Southern England accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated