Search results
- Dictionaryingenuous/ɪnˈdʒɛnjʊəs/
adjective
- 1. (of a person or action) innocent and unsuspecting: "he eyed her with wide, ingenuous eyes"
Powered by Oxford Dictionaries
Ingenuous is most often used to describe someone who has a childlike innocence and openness. It should not be confused with ingenious, which typically describes someone who is unusually inventive or clever, or something made or done in an especially original or clever way.
INGENUOUS definition: 1. honest, sincere, and trusting, sometimes in a way that seems silly: 2. honest, sincere, and…. Learn more.
Synonyms for INGENUOUS: genuine, unaffected, honest, simple, innocent, true, naive, guileless; Antonyms of INGENUOUS: false, artful, cynical, artificial, dishonest, critical, assuming, insincere
Ingenious means clever or cleverly inventive or resourceful. Ingenuous means sincere or, perhaps more commonly, naive or innocent. Careful: ingenious sounds like genius (the two are often used in the same contexts and even come from the same root) but it’s not spelled ingenius.
Anything ingenious is smart and clever, but ingenuous means innocent and naive. The ingenious villain in your favorite comic book series might come up with diabolical plots, while the ingenuous heroine doesn't suspect a thing.
INGENUOUS meaning: 1. honest, sincere, and trusting, sometimes in a way that seems silly: 2. honest, sincere, and…. Learn more.
If you describe someone as ingenuous, you mean that they are innocent, trusting, and honest.
adj. 1. Lacking in cunning, guile, or worldliness; innocent or naive: I'm not so ingenuous as to believe everything he says. See Synonyms at naive. 2. Straightforward or frank; candid: "I must be so ingenuous as to own that the accounts are not so certain as to the exact time and place of his birth" (Memoir of Martinus Scriblerus).
Ingenuous definition: Lacking in cunning, guile, or worldliness; innocent or naive.
Definition of ingenuous adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
