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ingenuous

   Also found in: Legal 0.01 sec.
in·gen·u·ous  (n-jny-s)
adj.
1. Lacking in cunning, guile, or worldliness; artless.
2. Openly straightforward or frank; candid. See Synonyms at naive.
3. Obsolete Ingenious.

[Latin ingenuus, honest, freeborn; see gen- in Indo-European roots.]

in·genu·ous·ly adv.
in·genu·ous·ness n.

ingenuous [ɪnˈdʒɛnjʊəs]
adj
1. naive, artless, or innocent
2. candid; frank; straightforward
[from Latin ingenuus freeborn, worthy of a freeman, virtuous, from in-2 + -genuus, from gignere to beget]
ingenuously  adv
ingenuousness  n
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj.1.ingenuous - characterized by an inability to mask your feelings; not devious; "an ingenuous admission of responsibility"
sincere - open and genuine; not deceitful; "he was a good man, decent and sincere"; "felt sincere regret that they were leaving"; "sincere friendship"
naif, naive - marked by or showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile or worldly experience; "a teenager's naive ignorance of life"; "the naive assumption that things can only get better"; "this naive simple creature with wide friendly eyes so eager to believe appearances"
artful, disingenuous - not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness; "an ambitious, disingenuous, philistine, and hypocritical operator, who...exemplified...the most disagreeable traits of his time"- David Cannadine; "a disingenuous excuse"
2.ingenuous - 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"
naif, naive - marked by or showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile or worldly experience; "a teenager's naive ignorance of life"; "the naive assumption that things can only get better"; "this naive simple creature with wide friendly eyes so eager to believe appearances"

ingenuous
Translations
ingenuous [ɪnˈdʒenjʊəs] ADJ (= naive) → ingenuo; (= candid) → cándido
ingenuous [ɪnˈdʒɛnjuəs] adj (= candid) → ingénu(e)
ingenuous
adj
(= candid)offen, aufrichtig, unbefangen
(= naïve)naiv
ingenuous [ɪnˈdʒɛnjʊəs] adjingenuo/a
ingenuous [ɪnˈdʒɛnjʊəs] adjingenuo/a


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
It is also proper, that for performing these exercises the citizens should be divided into distinct classes, according to their ages, and that the young persons should have proper officers to be with them, and that the seniors should be with the magistrates; for having them before their eyes would greatly inspire true modesty and ingenuous fear.
That is a classical line, young lady; and, being rendered into English, is, `a lad of an ingenuous countenance, and of an ingenuous modesty;' for this was a virtue in great repute both among the Latins and Greeks.
As much experience as Delafield possessed in the trifling manoeuvres of managers, or perhaps in the manifestations of feelings that are exhibited by every-day people, he was an absolute novice in the emotions of a pure, simple, ingenuous female heart.
 
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