What is the meaning of ingenuous?

adjective

  • Characterized by an inability to mask your feelings; not devious.
    • usage: "an ingenuous admission of responsibility"
  • Lacking in sophistication or worldliness.
    • usage: "a child's innocent stare"; "his ingenuous explanation that he would not have burned the church if he had not thought the bishop was in it"
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
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APAWordNet. (2010). ingenuous. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/ingenuous/definitions/1176587
ChicagoWordNet. 2010. "ingenuous" http://smartdefine.org/ingenuous/definitions/1176587 (accessed September 20, 2026).
HarvardWordNet 2010, ingenuous, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/ingenuous/definitions/1176587>.
MLAWordNet. "ingenuous" 23 October 2010. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/ingenuous/definitions/1176587>
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