naïve

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (1)  · 
“
On the other hand, we can be enthusiastic and hopeful without being naïve.

View all »
Definitions (2)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Simple; unsophisticated; ingenuous; artless. Little Lilly… would listen to his conversation and remarks, which were almost as naive and unsophisticated as her own. Marryat, Snarleyyow.
  2. In philosophy, unreflective; uncritical. Naïve thought is characterized by making deductions from propositions never consciously asserted. Synonyms Frank, Ingenuous, etc. See candid.

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • On the other hand, we can be enthusiastic and hopeful without being naïve. —  Revitalize Your Church
  • Britain's foreign secretary David Miliband last week dismissed a proposal by the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, saying: "I think that's a bit naïve since the agreement, the upgrade, was for the Palestinians as well as for the Israelis." —  Palestine Chronicle - Headlines
  • I found her voice to be both naïve and wise, as well as vulnerable and strong, and I suppose I liked the tension these dichotomies created on the page, especially when she tried to describe certain adult settings and situations. —  San Francisco Metblogs
  • (Barack Obama may be much less naïve about these things than are his supporters.) —  Latest Articles
  • They are instead - despite their Ivy League diplomas - uneducated and naïve people who still live in the Cold War, foolishly believing that America is the boss of a strong Western / NATO community (which is now in its death throes on Afghanistan's plains); that other nations are eager to do America's dirty work; and, most fatally of all, that the national security interests of the United States and Israel are identical. —  Antiwar.com Original
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Words tagged naïve

Stats

This word has been looked up 37 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French naïve, feminine of naïf (cf. naïf), from Latin nativus, native, rustic, simple: see native.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

If you'd like to prod us on getting a pronunciation for this word, sign in (or sign up) and let us know.

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word a few times a month.

Recently looked up

wc · effervescent · paper · ebullient · Doubtfire

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Glockenspiel · Ersatz · Blaukraut bleibt Blaukraut und Brautkleid bleibt Brautkleid · Haifischschwanzflossenfleischsuppe · Der Kottbusser Postkutscher putzt den Kottbusser Postkutschkasten