Adjacent Words

Ingenuous definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

INGEN'UOUS, a. [L. ingenuus.] Open; frank; fair; candid; free from reserve, disguise, equivocation or dissimulation; used of persons or things. We speak of an ingenuous mind; an ingenuous man; an ingenuous declaration or confession.
1. Noble; generous; as an ingenuous ardor or zeal; ingenuous detestation of falsehood.
2. Of honorable extraction; freeborn; as ingenuous blood or birth.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

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]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: by alteration Date: 1588 obsolete ingenious II. adjective Etymology: Latin ingenuus native, freeborn, from in- + gignere to beget — more at kin Date: 1588 1. obsolete noble, honorable 2. a. showing innocent or childlike simplicity and candidness <her ingenuous thirst for experience — Christopher Rawson> b. lacking craft or subtlety <ingenuous in their brutality> Synonyms: see natural • ingenuously adverb • ingenuousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 innocent; artless. 2 open; frank. Derivatives: ingenuously adv. ingenuousness n. Etymology: L ingenuus free-born, frank (as IN-(2), root of gignere beget)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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. 2. Noble; generous; magnanimous; honorable; upright; high-minded; as, an ingenuous ardor or zeal. If an ingenuous detestation of falsehood be but carefully and early instilled, that is the true and genuine method to obviate dishonesty. --Locke. 3. Free from reserve, disguise, equivocation, or dissimulation; open; frank; as, an ingenuous man; an ingenuous declaration, confession, etc. 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. 4. Ingenious. [Obs.] --Shak. 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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe someone as ingenuous, you mean that they are innocent, trusting, and honest. (FORMAL) He seemed too ingenuous for a reporter... ? disingenuous ADJ • ingenuously Somewhat ingenuously, he explains how the crime may be accomplished... ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Artless, frank, open, candid, sincere, guileless, honest, downright, straightforward, truthful, simple-minded, single-minded, open-hearted, transparent, childlike, naïve.

Moby Thesaurus

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