Synonyms for guileless
- adjective
Most common
All synonyms
Adjective
1. Innocent
innocent, unsophisticated, child-like, ingenuous, naive, callow, sincere, frank, pure, pyore US, simple, single-minded, candid, transparent, single-hearted, open, unreserved, undissembling, credulous, unaffected, undesigning dated
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Free from guile; honest but naive.
Choose the right word
On the other hand, artless, guileless, naive, simple, and unsophisticated express the goodness which comes from want of the knowledge or thought of evil.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- innocent From this evidence it follows that he is innocent.
- naive Tom isn't as naive as a lot of people think he is.
- unsophisticated Do you think Tom is unsophisticated?
- ingenuous Mary is an ingenuous student.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| guileless | rising | |
| innocent | rising | |
| naive | steady | |
| unsophisticated | falling | |
| ingenuous | steady | |
| uncalculating | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- open2, pure1
- 5 letters
- frank1, naive2, pyore
- 6 letters
- simple2, candid2, callow2
- 7 letters
- sincere2
- 8 letters
- innocent3
- 9 letters
- credulous3, ingenuous4
- 10 letters
- unaffected4, unreserved
- 11 letters
- transparent3, undesigning
- 13 letters
- undissembling, uncalculating
- 15 letters
- unsophisticated6
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (open2 = 2 syllables).