naiveness

na·ive or na·ïve  (n-v, nä-) also na·if or na·ïf (n-f, nä-)

adj.

1. Lacking worldly experience and understanding, especially:

a. Simple and guileless; artless: a child with a naive charm.

b. Unsuspecting or credulous: "Students, often bright but naive, betand losesubstantial sums of money on sporting events" (Tim Layden).

2. Showing or characterized by a lack of sophistication and critical judgment: "this extravagance of metaphors, with its naive bombast" (H.L. Mencken).

3.

a. Not previously subjected to experiments: testing naive mice.

b. Not having previously taken or received a particular drug: persons naive to marijuana.

n.

One who is artless, credulous, or uncritical.

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[French naïve, feminine of naïf, from Old French naif, natural, native, from Latin ntvus, native, rustic, from ntus, past participle of nsc, to be born; see gen- in Indo-European roots.]

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na·ively adv.

na·iveness n.

Synonyms: naive, simple, ingenuous, unsophisticated, natural, unaffected, guileless, artless
These adjectives mean free from guile, cunning, or sham. Naive sometimes connotes a credulity that impedes effective functioning in a practical world: "this naive simple creature, with his straightforward and friendly eyes so eager to believe appearances" (Arnold Bennett).
Simple stresses absence of complexity, artifice, pretentiousness, or dissimulation: "Those of highest worth and breeding are most simple in manner and attire" (Francis Parkman). "Among simple people she had the reputation of being a prodigy of information" (Harriet Beecher Stowe).
Ingenuous denotes childlike directness, simplicity, and innocence; it connotes an inability to mask one's feelings: an ingenuous admission of responsibility.
Unsophisticated indicates absence of worldliness: the astonishment of unsophisticated tourists at the tall buildings.
Natural stresses spontaneity that is the result of freedom from self-consciousness or inhibitions: "When Kavanagh was present, Alice was happy, but embarrassed; Cecelia, joyous and natural" (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).
Unaffected implies sincerity and lack of affectation: "With men he can be rational and unaffected, but when he has ladies to please, every feature works" (Jane Austen).
Guileless signifies absence of insidious or treacherous cunning: a guileless, disarming look.
Artless stresses absence of plan or purpose and suggests unconcern for or lack of awareness of the reaction produced in others: a child of artless grace and simple goodness.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

naiveness - lack of sophistication or worldliness naivete, naivety quality - an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone; "the quality of mercy is not strained"--Shakespeare artlessness, ingenuousness, innocence, naturalness - the quality of innocent naivete credulousness, gullibility - tendency to believe too readily and therefore to be easily deceived simple mindedness, simpleness, simplicity - a lack of penetration or subtlety; "they took advantage of her simplicity"