babe in the woods

Idioms  

1. An innocent or very naive person who is apt to be duped or victimized, as in She was a babe in the woods where the stock market was concerned. The term originated in a popular ballad of 1595, “The Children in the Wood,” about two young orphans who are abandoned in a forest and die.

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Example Sentences

When Harriet stands before the white men of the Los Angeles City Council to argue her case, “Aja does this thing with her voice, it’s kind of high and a little vulnerable, and she’s so sweet, she seems like a babe in the woods, but she is a stone-cold killer,” Eisenberg says.

From Los Angeles Times

And Angel Lin’s assured and anchoring performance toes a delicate line, presenting Maya as neither a babe in the woods nor a wunderkind fully prepared for the magnitude of her mission.

From New York Times

In his book, Always Red. which is published next month, Mr McCluskey questions whether the current Labour leader is a "babe in the woods" or "altogether more calculating".

From BBC

Her style is, on occasion, jarring and labored: Her friend Chester is a “veritable walking, talking recommendation letter,” Nix a “veritable babe in the woods” and his list of clients a “veritable rogues’ gallery of nemeses.”

From Washington Post

Perhaps we need to rethink how we define a babe in the woods.

From Washington Times