disingenuous
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of disingenuous
Explanation
Use the adjective disingenuous to describe behavior that's not totally honest or sincere. It's disingenuous when people pretend to know less about something than they really do. Disingenuous combines dis-, meaning "not," with ingenuous (from the Latin gen-, meaning "born") which was originally used to distinguish free-born Romans from slaves, and later came to mean "honest" or "straightforward." So disingenuous means "dishonest." Ingenuous is less common now than disingenuous, but we still use it for someone who is sincere to the point of naiveté. A good synonym is insincere.
Vocabulary lists containing disingenuous
100 SAT Words Beginning with "D"
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Grade 12, List 4
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This Week in Words: March 30–April 5, 2019
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the 2022 suit, Flores said the Giants interviewed him for their vacant head coaching job under disingenuous circumstances.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026
Others tried to analyze the facial expressions in photos of top administration figures, looking for something disingenuous to betray acting or indicate a lack of real fear.
From Slate • Apr. 26, 2026
“But it would be disingenuous to pretend AI doesn’t change the mix of skills we need or the number of roles required in certain areas. It does,” he added.
From Barron's • Mar. 12, 2026
He’s either being disingenuous in Ms. Zenovich’s interview, or is beyond the point of being a reliable source on his own life story.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 30, 2025
I was still hugging the boy, so he couldn't see the disingenuous look on my youthful face.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
