Ingenuous vs. Naive — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Ingenuous and Naive
ADVERTISEMENT
Compare with Definitions
Ingenuous
(of a person or action) innocent and unsuspecting
He eyed her with wide, ingenuous eyes
She's staggeringly ingenuous, or possibly very cunning indeed
Naive
Simple and guileless; artless
A child with a naive charm.
Ingenuous
Lacking in cunning, guile, or worldliness; innocent or naive
I'm not so ingenuous as to believe everything he says.
Naive
Unsuspecting or credulous
Naive victims of the scam.
Ingenuous
Straightforward or frank; candid
"I must be so ingenuous as to own that the accounts are not so certain as to the exact time and place of his birth" (Memoir of Martinus Scriblerus).
ADVERTISEMENT
Naive
Showing or characterized by a lack of sophistication and critical judgment
"this extravagance of metaphors, with its naive bombast" (H.L. Mencken).
Ingenuous
Naive and trusting.
Naive
Not previously subjected to experiments
Testing naive mice.
Ingenuous
Demonstrating childlike simplicity.
Naive
Not having previously taken or received a particular drug
Patients naive to antipsychotic medication.
Ingenuous
Unsophisticated; clumsy or obvious.
Naive
One who is artless, credulous, or uncritical.
Ingenuous
Unable to mask one's feelings.
Naive
Lacking worldly experience, wisdom, or judgement; unsophisticated.
Ingenuous
Straightforward, candid, open, and frank.
Naive
Not having been exposed to something.
Ingenuous
Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous blood of birth.
Naive
(of art) Produced in a simple, childlike style, deliberately rejecting sophisticated techniques.
Ingenuous
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.
Naive
Intuitive; designed to follow the way ordinary people approach a problem.
Ingenuous
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.
Naive
A naive person; a greenhorn.
Ingenuous
Ingenious.
Naive
Having native or unaffected simplicity; ingenuous; artless; frank; as, naïve manners; a naïve person; naïve and unsophisticated remarks.
Ingenuous
Characterized by an inability to mask your feelings; not devious;
An ingenuous admission of responsibility
Naive
Having a lack of knowledge, judgment, or experience; especially, lacking sophistication in judging the motives of others; credulous; as, a naive belief in the honesty of politicians.
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
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
Naive
Lacking experience of life;
A callow youth of seventeen
Naive
Lacking sophistication
Share Your Discovery
Previous Comparison
Submissive vs. Succumbent
Next Comparison
Fungus vs. Sporophore
