ingenuous

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: in=gen=u=ous

CIDE DICTIONARY

ingenuous, a. [L. ingenuus inborn, innate, freeborn, noble, frank; pref. in- in + the root of gignere to beget. See Genius, and cf. Ingenious.].

•  Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous blood of birth.  [1913 Webster]
•  Noble; generous; magnanimous; honorable; upright; high-minded; as, an ingenuous ardor or zeal.  [1913 Webster]

  "If an ingenuous detestation of falsehood be but carefully and early instilled, that is the true and genuine method to obviate dishonesty."  [1913 Webster]
•  Free from reserve, disguise, equivocation, or dissimulation; open; frank; as, an ingenuous man; an ingenuous declaration, confession, etc.  [1913 Webster]

  "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."  [1913 Webster]
•  Ingenious.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  " (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.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

ingenuous, adj.
1 innocent; artless.
2 open; frank.

Derivative

ingenuously adv. ingenuousness n.

Etymology

L ingenuus free-born, frank (as IN-(2), root of gignere beget)

THESAURUS

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

ROGET THESAURUS

ingenuous

Artlessness

N artlessness, nature, simplicity, innocence, bonhomie, naivete, abandon, candor, sincerity, singleness of purpose, singleness of heart, honesty, plain speaking, epanchement, rough diamond, matter of fact man, le palais de verite, enfant terrible, artless, natural, pure, native, confiding, simple, lain, inartificial, untutored, unsophisticated, ingenu, unaffected, naive, sincere, frank, open, open as day, candid, ingenuous, guileless, unsuspicious, honest, innocent, Arcadian, undesigning, straightforward, unreserved, aboveboard, simple-minded, single-minded, frank-hearted, open-hearted, single-hearted, simple-hearted, free-spoken, plain-spoken, outspoken, blunt, downright, direct, matter of fact, unpoetical, unflattering, in plain words, in plain English, without mincing the matter, not to mince the matter, Davus sum non Oedipus, liberavi animam meam, as frank as rain on cherry blossoms.

Simplicity

N simplicity, plainness, homeliness, undress, chastity, simple, plain, homely, homespun, ordinary, household, unaffected, ingenuous, sincere (artless), free from affectation, free from ornament, simplex munditiis, sans facon, en deshabille, chaste, inornate, severe, unadorned, bare, unornamented, undecked, ungarnished, unarranged, untrimmed, unvarnished, bald, flat, dull, veritatis simplex oratio est.

Veracity

N veracity, truthfulness, frankness truth, sincerity, candor, unreserve, honesty, fidelity, plain dealing, bona fides, love of truth, probity, ingenuousness, the truth the whole truth and nothing but the trut, honest truth, sober truth, unvarnished tale, light of truth, truthful, true, veracious, veridical, scrupulous, sincere, candid, frank, open, straightforward, unreserved, open hearted, true hearted, simple-hearted, honest, trustworthy, undissembling &c (dissemble), guileless, pure, truth- loving, unperjured, true blue, as good as one's word, unaffected, unfeigned, bona fide, outspoken, ingenuous, undisguised, uncontrived, truly, in plain words, in truth, with truth, of a truth, in good truth, as the dial to the sun, as the needle to the pole, honor bright, troth, in good sooth, in good earnest, unfeignedly, with no nonsense, in sooth, sooth to say, bona fide, in foro conscientiae, without equivocation, cartes sur table, from the bottom of one's heart, by my troth, di il vero a affronterai il diavolo, Dichtung und Wahrheit, esto quod esse videris, magna est veritas et praevalet, that golden key that opes the palace of eternity, veritas odium parit, veritatis simplex oratio est, verite sans peur.