ingenuous

ingenuous
    adj 1: characterized by an inability to mask your feelings; not
           devious; "an ingenuous admission of responsibility" [syn:
           {ingenuous}, {artless}] [ant: {artful}, {disingenuous}]
    2: 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"
       [syn: {innocent}, {ingenuous}]
    

Ingenuous \In*gen"u*ous\, a. [L. ingenuus inborn, innate,
   freeborn, noble, frank; pref. in- in + the root of gignere to
   beget. See {Genius}, and cf. {Ingenious}.]
   1. Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous
      blood of birth.
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   2. Noble; generous; magnanimous; honorable; upright;
      high-minded; as, an ingenuous ardor or zeal.
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            If an ingenuous detestation of falsehood be but
            carefully and early instilled, that is the true and
            genuine method to obviate dishonesty. --Locke.
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   3. Free from reserve, disguise, equivocation, or
      dissimulation; open; frank; as, an ingenuous man; an
      ingenuous declaration, confession, etc.
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            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.                              --Fuller.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Ingenious. [Obs.] --Shak.
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   Note: (Formerly) printers did not discriminate between . . .
         ingenuous and ingenious, and these words were used or
         rather printed interchangeably almost to the beginning
         of the eighteenth century. --G. P. Marsh.

   Syn: Open; frank; unreserved; artless; plain; sincere;
        candid; fair; noble; generous.

   Usage: {Ingenuous}, {Open}, {Frank}. One who is open speaks
          out at once what is uppermost in his mind; one who is
          frank does it from a natural boldness, or dislike of
          self-restraint; one who is ingenuous is actuated by a
          native simplicity and artlessness, which make him
          willing to confess faults, and make known his
          sentiments without reserve. See {Candid}.
          [1913 Webster]
    

115 Moby Thesaurus words for "ingenuous":
      artless, bluff, blunt, bold, born yesterday, broad, brusque,
      budding, callow, candid, childlike, confiding, cullible,
      deceivable, deludable, dewy, direct, downright, dupable, easy,
      explicit, exploitable, fair, fair and square, foolable, forthright,
      frank, frankhearted, free, free-speaking, free-spoken,
      free-tongued, genuine, green, growing, guileless, gullible,
      heart-to-heart, hoaxable, honest, honorable, hoodwinkable,
      humbugable, immature, impubic, inexperienced, ingenu, innocent,
      intact, juicy, just, minor, naive, natural, new-fledged,
      on the level, open, openhearted, outspoken, persuadable, plain,
      plain-spoken, raw, ripening, round, sappy, seduceable, simple,
      simplehearted, simpleminded, sincere, single-hearted,
      single-minded, soft, straight, straight-out, straightforward,
      suggestible, tender, transparent, trustful, trusting, trustworthy,
      unabashed, unadult, unaffected, unartificial, unchecked,
      uncomplicated, unconstrained, undeceitful, undeceptive, underage,
      undeveloped, undissembling, unequivocal, unfeigning, unfledged,
      unformed, unguarded, uninhibited, unlicked, unmellowed, unreserved,
      unrestrained, unripe, unschooled, unseasoned, unsophisticated,
      unstudied, unsuspicious, unwary, vernal, victimizable, virginal