ingenuous.

Openly sincere and lacking worldly calculation.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• ingenuous question
• ingenuous smile

On the page

Her ingenuous question startled the council.

An ingenuous smile softened his face.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Comparative more ingenuous; superlative most ingenuous where gradation is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.