guileless

C2+ Topic:Describing People

US /ˈɡaɪlləs/ UK /ˈɡaɪlləs/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
innocent and without deceit; honest and sincere

Her guileless smile convinced everyone of her good intentions.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · innocent and without... innocent artless ingenuous candid naive sincere honest frank

Opposites

cunning deceitful crafty sly devious

Word family

Derived forms guilelesslyguilelessness

Related forms guileguileful

Etymology

From guile (from Old French guile, 'deceit, cunning', of Germanic origin, akin to wile) + the native suffix -less.

guile Old French -lēas Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing People Word Formation & Derivatives

# guileless

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈɡaɪlləs
**IPA (UK):** ˈɡaɪlləs

## Meanings
1. innocent and without deceit; honest and sincere

## Examples
- Her guileless smile convinced everyone of her good intentions.

## Synonyms
- innocent
- artless
- ingenuous
- candid
- naive
- sincere
- honest
- frank

## Antonyms
- cunning
- deceitful
- crafty
- sly
- devious

## Derived Forms
- guilelessly
- guilelessness

## Related Forms
- guile
- guileful

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: guile
- Root: -lēas

## Etymology
From guile (from Old French guile, 'deceit, cunning', of Germanic origin, akin to wile) + the native suffix -less.

## AI Etymology
Guileless comes from guile (from Old French guile, 'deceit, cunning', of Germanic origin, akin to wile) + the native suffix -less. The etymological trail includes Old French guile and Old English -lēas. As an adjective, guileless describes what is innocent and without deceit; honest and sincere. The same family is visible in derived forms such as guilelessly and guilelessness and related forms such as guile and guileful. The analysis is partly morphological, with the modern form built from the elements named in the history.

## Topics
- Describing People
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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