ZebraWords.com - The Definition of 'Ingenuous', Synonyms of 'Ingenuous' & More on 'Ingenuous'

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

artless, bluff, blunt, bold, born yesterday, broad, brusque, budding, callow, candid, childlike, confiding, cullible, deceivable, deludable, dewy, direct, downright, dupable, easy, explicit, exploitable, fair, fair and square, foolable, forthright, frank, frankhearted, free, free-speaking, free-spoken, free-tongued, genuine, green, growing, guileless, gullible, heart-to-heart, hoaxable, honest, honorable, hoodwinkable, humbugable, immature, impubic, inexperienced, ingenu, innocent, intact, juicy, just, minor, naive, natural, new-fledged, on the level, open, openhearted, outspoken, persuadable, plain, plain-spoken, raw, ripening, round, sappy, seduceable, simple, simplehearted, simpleminded, sincere, single-hearted, single-minded, soft, straight, straight-out, straightforward, suggestible, tender, transparent, trustful, trusting, trustworthy, unabashed, unadult, unaffected, unartificial, unchecked, uncomplicated, unconstrained, undeceitful, undeceptive, underage, undeveloped, undissembling, unequivocal, unfeigning, unfledged, unformed, unguarded, uninhibited, unlicked, unmellowed, unreserved, unrestrained, unripe, unschooled, unseasoned, unsophisticated, unstudied, unsuspicious, unwary, vernal, victimizable, virginal

Dictionary Results for ingenuous:

1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)

ingenuous
    adj 1: characterized by an inability to mask your feelings; not
           devious; "an ingenuous admission of responsibility" [syn:
           ingenuous, artless] [ant: artful, disingenuous]
    2: lacking in sophistication or worldliness; "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"
       [syn: innocent, ingenuous]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Ingenuous \In*gen"u*ous\, a. [L. ingenuus inborn, innate,
   freeborn, noble, frank; pref. in- in + the root of gignere to
   beget. See Genius, and cf. Ingenious.]
   1. Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous
      blood of birth.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Noble; generous; magnanimous; honorable; upright;
      high-minded; as, an ingenuous ardor or zeal.
      [1913 Webster]

            If an ingenuous detestation of falsehood be but
            carefully and early instilled, that is the true and
            genuine method to obviate dishonesty. --Locke.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Free from reserve, disguise, equivocation, or
      dissimulation; open; frank; as, an ingenuous man; an
      ingenuous declaration, confession, etc.
      [1913 Webster]

            Sensible in myself . . . what a burden it is for me,
            who would be ingenuous, to be loaded with courtesies
            which he hath not the least hope to requite or
            deserve.                              --Fuller.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Ingenious. [Obs.] --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: (Formerly) printers did not discriminate between . . .
         ingenuous and ingenious, and these words were used or
         rather printed interchangeably almost to the beginning
         of the eighteenth century. --G. P. Marsh.

   Syn: Open; frank; unreserved; artless; plain; sincere;
        candid; fair; noble; generous.

   Usage: Ingenuous, Open, Frank. One who is open speaks
          out at once what is uppermost in his mind; one who is
          frank does it from a natural boldness, or dislike of
          self-restraint; one who is ingenuous is actuated by a
          native simplicity and artlessness, which make him
          willing to confess faults, and make known his
          sentiments without reserve. See Candid.
          [1913 Webster]

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