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I'm not pretending to be ingenuous; I know what I'm doing.
Barbara Kingsolver

Meaning of "ingenuous" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD INGENUOUS

From Latin ingenuus freeborn, worthy of a freeman, virtuous, from in-² + -genuus, from gignere to beget.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF INGENUOUS

ingenuous  [ɪnˈdʒɛnjʊəs] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF INGENUOUS

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Ingenuous is an adjective.
The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES INGENUOUS MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Ingenue (stock character)

The ingénue /ˈænʒənuː/ is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingénue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in such roles. The term comes from the feminine form of the French adjective ingénu meaning "ingenuous" or innocent, virtuous, and candid. The term may also imply a lack of sophistication and cunning. Typically, the ingénue is beautiful, gentle, sweet, virginal, and often naïve, in mental or emotional danger, or even physical danger, usually a target of The Cad; whom she may have mistaken for The Hero. Due to lack of independence, the ingénue usually lives with her father or a father figure. The vamp is often a foil for the ingénue. The ingénue is often accompanied with a romantic side plot. This romance is usually considered pure and harmless to both participants. In many cases, but not all, the male participant is just as innocent as the ingénue is. The ingénue is also similar to the girl next door archetype. In opera and musical theatre, the ingénue is usually sung by a lyric soprano.

Definition of ingenuous in the English dictionary

The definition of ingenuous in the dictionary is naive, artless, or innocent. Other definition of ingenuous is candid; frank; straightforward.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH INGENUOUS


ambiguous
æmˈbɪɡjʊəs
arduous
ˈɑːdjʊəs
cernuous
ˈsɜːnjʊəs
conspicuous
kənˈspɪkjʊəs
contiguous
kənˈtɪɡjʊəs
continuous
kənˈtɪnjʊəs
deciduous
dɪˈsɪdjʊəs
discontinuous
ˌdɪskənˈtɪnjʊəs
disingenuous
ˌdɪsɪnˈdʒɛnjʊəs
noncontinuous
ˌnɒnkənˈtɪnjʊəs
promiscuous
prəˈmɪskjʊəs
sensuous
ˈsɛnsjʊəs
sinuous
ˈsɪnjʊəs
strenuous
ˈstrɛnjʊəs
subcontinuous
ˌsʌbkənˈtɪnjʊəs
sumptuous
ˈsʌmptjʊəs
tenuous
ˈtɛnjʊəs
tumultuous
tjuːˈmʌltjʊəs
unambiguous
ˌʌnæmˈbɪɡjʊəs
voluptuous
vəˈlʌptjʊəs

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE INGENUOUS

ingenerate
ingeneration
Ingenhousz
ingenious
ingeniously
ingeniousness
ingenium
ingenu
ingenue
ingenuities
ingenuity
ingenuously
ingenuousness
Ingerland
Ingerlund
ingest
ingesta
ingestible
ingestion
ingestive

WORDS THAT END LIKE INGENUOUS

assiduous
congruous
contemptuous
discontiguous
fatuous
impetuous
incestuous
incongruous
inconspicuous
infructuous
mellifluous
noncontiguous
perspicuous
presumptuous
superfluous
tempestuous
tortuous
unctuous
vacuous
virtuous

Synonyms and antonyms of ingenuous in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «INGENUOUS»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «ingenuous» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of ingenuous

Translation of «ingenuous» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF INGENUOUS

Find out the translation of ingenuous to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of ingenuous from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «ingenuous» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

天真
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

ingenuo
570 millions of speakers

English

ingenuous
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

निष्कपट
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

السذاجة
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

простодушный
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

ingênua
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

মনখোলা
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

ingénu
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Tidak masuk akal
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

naiv
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

率直な
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

솔직한
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Ingenuous
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

ngây thơ
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

வெகுளியான
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

निष्क्रीय
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

içten
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

ingenuo
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

naiwny
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

простодушний
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

ingenuu
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

αφελής
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

naïef
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

naiv
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

troskyldig
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of ingenuous

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «INGENUOUS»

The term «ingenuous» is normally little used and occupies the 124.225 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Little used
42
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «ingenuous» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of ingenuous
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «ingenuous».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «INGENUOUS» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «ingenuous» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «ingenuous» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about ingenuous

EXAMPLES

QUOTES WITH «INGENUOUS»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word ingenuous.
1
Barbara Kingsolver
I'm not pretending to be ingenuous; I know what I'm doing.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «INGENUOUS»

Discover the use of ingenuous in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to ingenuous and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Ingenuous Subjection: Compliance and Power in the ...
By tracing the political, philosophical, and generic significance of feminine compliance, this book revises our literary historical account of the rise of the novel.
Helen Thompson, 2011
2
Garner's Modern American Usage
For the phrase in the near future, see future. -ing. See diminutives (h). ingenious; ingenuous. These words are virtual antonyms, yet ingenious (= clever, skillful, inventive) is sometimes displaced by ingenuous (= artless, simple, innocent)— e.g.: ...
Bryan Garner, 2009
3
CONCUR 2007 - Concurrency Theory: 18th International ...
positions introduces technicalities that we must confront in order to cope with infinite interactions, and to establish the functoriality property at the end of Section 6. Now, we will reformulate ingenuous strategies in the asynchronous game G as ...
Luís Caires, Vasco T. Vasconcelos, 2007
4
Ingenuous Scruples, Chiefly Relating to the Observance of ...
In Eight Letters, Forming A Supposed Series From A Father To His Daughter.
Alicia Catherine Mant, 2010
5
English Synonyms Explained, in Alphabetical Order: With ...
600. INFRINGEMENT. INGENUOUS. to. infringe,. v. To. encroach. TO INFRINGE, VIOLATE, TRANSGRESS. INFRINGE, from frango to break, signifies to break into . VIOLATE, from the Latin vis force, signifies to use force towards.
George Crabb, 1818
6
The Institutions or Elements of Justinian: in four books
The Ingenuous. Definition of the Term Ingenuous. THE term ingenuous denotes a person, who is free at the instant of his birth, by being born in matrimony of parents, who are both ingenuous, or both libertines ; or of parents, who differ in ...
Justinian I (Emperor of the East), George Harris, 1814
7
HOW 12: A Handbook for Office Professionals
Ingenious/Ingenuous Ingenious (ADJECTIVE; marked by originality, resourcefulness, and cleverness)— Your ingenious plan could save our company thousands of dollars annually. The Hawaiian Edge pineapple slicer is an ingenious ...
James L. Clark, Lyn Clark, 2009
8
Encyclopaedia perthensis, or, Universal dictionary of the ...
ployed much eloquence to persuadelthat truth in that cause further I will not proceed. Hookir. — his preface, but has. in one df his poems given a Infuse into their young breasts such an ingenuous noble example of it. Boyle.— The more ...
‎1816
9
Dubliners' Dozen: The Games Narrators Play
12. "The. Dead": Ingenuous. Hospitalities. In CHAPTER 10, I SHOWED HOW THE "PARALYSIS" JOYCE ATTRIBUTES TO Dublin also extends to the stories the characters tell, as the narrator monitors and manipulates their recitals. Because ...
Gerald Doherty, 2004
10
The Facts on File Guide to Good Writing
... See IMPINGE/INFRINGE. ingenious/ingenuous Despite their superficial similarity, the adjectives ingenious and ingenuous are unrelated in meaning. Ingenious means “clever,” “resourceful,” or “inventive” (an ingenious solution, ...
Martin H. Manser, 2009

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «INGENUOUS»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term ingenuous is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Album Reviews: Alan Jackson, Tame Impala, Jason Isbell and more
"Currents" would fizzle if not for the surge that lasts from the insistently thumping opener "Let It Happen" and ingenuous My Morning Jacket funk ... «Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jul 15»
2
President Museveni to Muslims: Eid Mubarak - New Vision
Others found ingenuous ways of getting there, for the sake of the little ones. (Credit: Bosco King). Here, Muslim women and children attending ... «New Vision, Jul 15»
3
Times food critic under fire for panning Portuguese cuisine - The …
It is just his ill informed and dis ingenuous opinion. by john hotten from Other on 17-07-2015 10:15:00. My first experiences of cozinha portuges ... «The Portugal News, Jul 15»
4
Like its insectoid hero, Ant-man is a film with an identity crisis
With his sparkly, ingenuous eyes, he seems to be chuckling at a film that is already chuckling at itself. Rudd plays Scott Lang, a safecracker ... «New Statesman, Jul 15»
5
Sparky, hectic, unmediated inventiveness on display
... panels, handmade books, an ingenious folding-chair contraption from the 19th Century, tin weathervanes (curlew, elephant), and ingenuous, ... «San Diego Reader, Jul 15»
6
Maya the Bee| Movie review
However, the ingenuous Maya sees a potential friend in everyone, and assembles a diverse team to save herself and the queen. This team ... «The Upcoming, Jul 15»
7
Batman Arkham Knight: The Effectiveness of Experimentation
The biggest tank battle involves the Knight and the end-game battle mixes predator combat with ingenuous navigation. This is much different ... «GamingBolt, Jul 15»
8
Urban nectar: why London's top chefs are turning into beekeepers
Beeswax may conjure up images of candles and lip balm but The Dairy chefs have experimented at length to find ingenuous uses: blended into ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Jul 15»
9
Don't drink, do drugs and drive
“It's a bit ingenuous for governments to say they're serious about drug driving considering the penalties,” Wangaratta magistrate, John ... «Wangaratta Chronicle, Jul 15»
10
SolarCity's Solar Ambassador Program Is Exploding (SCTY)
Implementing the Solar Ambassador program is an ingenuous move given its ability to supercharge the process of referrals, which is one of ... «Seeking Alpha, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Ingenuous [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/ingenuous>. Apr 2024 ».
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