gullible

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈɡʌləbəl/ UK /ˈɡʌlɪbl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
easily deceived or tricked

The con artist preyed on gullible elderly clients.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · easily deceived or tricked credulous naive trusting unwary unsuspecting ingenuous green

Opposites

skeptical shrewd wary cynical astute

Word family

Derived forms gullibilitygullibly

Related forms gull

Simplified etymology

Gullible arose in the early 19th century for someone who could be gulled, or deceived. The verb gull was common from the 16th through the 19th centuries and may derive from an old dialect word for an unfledged bird, unrelated to gull meaning “seagull.”

Etymology

From gull ('to deceive, dupe') + -ible, an alteration of the earlier gullable, formed in the early 19th century.

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# gullible

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

## Meanings
1. easily deceived or tricked

## Examples
- The con artist preyed on gullible elderly clients.

## Synonyms
- credulous
- naive
- trusting
- unwary
- unsuspecting
- ingenuous
- green

## Antonyms
- skeptical
- shrewd
- wary
- cynical
- astute

## Derived Forms
- gullibility
- gullibly

## Related Forms
- gull

## Etymology
From gull ('to deceive, dupe') + -ible, an alteration of the earlier gullable, formed in the early 19th century.

## AI Etymology
gullible comes from gull ('to deceive, dupe') + -ible, an alteration of the earlier gullable, formed in the early 19th century. Morphologically, the ending is part of the etymology: the suffix is attached to the older base named in the history, producing a later English derivative. In present English, the adjective sense is "easily deceived or tricked", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as gull, and in derivatives such as gullibility and gullibly. Its semantic neighborhood includes credulous, naive, trusting, and unwary, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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