ingenuous
/ɪnˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.əs/
ingenuous · adj — naive and trusting. It carries an Arena rating of 1664, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ingenuous ranks #1,919 of 17,106 for Most Storied Words, #1,944 of 17,128 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,217 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #3,144 of 17,132 for Most Beautiful Words.
ingenuous is pronounced /ɪnˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.əs/.
Why “ingenuous” is a great word
Marked by innocent or childlike simplicity and frankness, lacking in guile or sophistication. From Latin ingenuus ("free-born, noble in character, frank, upright"), a heritage that ties uncalculated honesty to innate nobility. Unlike "ingenious," which describes a clever, inventive mind, or "disingenuous," its direct antonym implying calculated pretense, "ingenuous" describes an unarmored character. It is the blush that cannot be suppressed, the answer given without a second thought, the open face that has not yet learned to arrange its features into a mask—the fragile grace of a heart that still believes the world merits its honesty.
❧ Written by Lexicurio’s AI
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin ingenuus (“of noble character, frank”). Doublet of ingenu.
adj
- Naive and trusting.
- Demonstrating childlike simplicity.e.g.“"Do you mean to say you didn't leave your wife for another woman?"
"Of course not."
"On your word of honour?"
I don't know why I asked for that. It was very ingenuous of me.” — 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “ch. 12”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
- Unsophisticated; clumsy or obvious.
- Unable to mask one's feelings.
- Straightforward, candid, open, frank.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.