ingenuous

C2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ɪnˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.əs/ See IPA manual

Freq #71822

Meanings

1

adj
Innocent and trusting in a simple, honest way; not suspicious of others.

Her ingenuous smile showed she had no idea she was being teased.
2

adj
Open and honest; saying exactly what you think.

He gave an ingenuous answer, admitting his mistake without excuses.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · innocent and trusting in a... innocent artless naive

2 adj · open and honest; saying... candid frank

Opposites

disingenuous

Word family

Derived forms ingenuously ingenuousnessuningenuous

Related forms ingenuingenue

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ingenuus (“of noble character, frank”). Doublet of ingenu.

ingenuus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# ingenuous

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ɪnˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.əs/
**Frequency rank:** 71822

## Meanings
1. Innocent and trusting in a simple, honest way; not suspicious of others.
2. Open and honest; saying exactly what you think.

## Examples
- Her ingenuous smile showed she had no idea she was being teased.
- He gave an ingenuous answer, admitting his mistake without excuses.

## Antonyms
- disingenuous

## Derived Forms
- ingenuously
- ingenuousness
- uningenuous

## Related Forms
- ingenu
- ingenue

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: ingenuus

## Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin ingenuus (“of noble character, frank”). Doublet of ingenu.

## AI Etymology
Ingenuous is a learned borrowing from Latin ingenuus (“of noble character, frank”). Doublet of ingenu. Important recorded forms include ingenuus (Latin). Current senses include innocent and trusting in a simple, honest way; not suspicious of others and open and honest; saying exactly what you think. The wider family includes derived forms such as ingenuously, ingenuousness, and uningenuous and related words such as ingenu and ingenue.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown