Synonyms for ingenuous
- adjective
Most common
All synonyms
Adjective
1. Naive — unsophisticated; clumsy or obvious
naive, child-like, unsophisticated, guileless, innocent, candid, sincere, honest, simple, open, straight-forward, frank, callow, single-minded, outspoken, honorable US, honourable UK, natural, transparent, downright, plain, fair, unreserved
Definitions
- adj. 1
Unsophisticated; clumsy or obvious.
Related words
- Word family
- ingenuously ingenuousness ingenue
Choose the right word
Honest and ingenuous unite in expressing contempt for deceit.
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?
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| ingenuous | steady | |
| innocent | rising | |
| naive | steady | |
| unsophisticated | falling | |
| guileless | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- open2, fair1
- 5 letters
- frank1, plain1, naive2
- 6 letters
- simple2, honest2, candid2, callow2
- 7 letters
- natural3, sincere2
- 8 letters
- innocent3
- 9 letters
- honorable4, outspoken3, downright2, guileless2
- 10 letters
- honourable4, unreserved
- 11 letters
- transparent3
- 15 letters
- unsophisticated6
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (open2 = 2 syllables).