naively
Americanadverb
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in a way that shows a lack of experience, judgment, or information.
I'll just stretch the contents of my talks into a book, I thought naively, but after three years of hard work I’m still far from completing a manuscript.
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in a way that shows simplicity of character and the absence of artificiality or sophistication.
The ancient historian Herodotus marks a transitional stage in cultural anthropology, between naively artless chronicle writing and scientific research.
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in a way not influenced by previous participation in a scientific experiment or awareness of its real purpose.
Participants behave naively and more naturally if they don’t know the true nature or objective of the study.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of naively
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 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Berlin waving a worthless piece of paper signed by Hitler, naively promising “peace for our time.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
"There's an assumption we naively hold that when we want children it will just happen but that's not a privilege we're all granted so it's made me more compassionate in that regard."
From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2026
And yet it represented a floor which I naively believed democratic accountability could not fall beneath without consequence.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026
In Brontë’s book, Isabella marries Heathcliff naively believing he might shape up into a gentleman and flees with their son when she realizes that is out of the question.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
Despite some misgivings, we naively felt we had the upper hand with Mr. Piliso now that we had his boss, Mr. Wellbeloved, on our side.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
