naive
Americanadjective
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having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information; credulous.
She's so naive she believes everything she reads.
He has a very naive attitude toward politics.
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having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of artificiality; unsophisticated; ingenuous.
- Antonyms:
- artful, sophisticated
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having or marked by a simple, unaffectedly direct style reflecting little or no formal training or technique.
valuable naive 19th-century American portrait paintings.
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not having previously been the subject of a scientific experiment, as an animal.
adjective
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having or expressing innocence and credulity; ingenuous
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( as collective noun; preceded by the )
only the naive believed him
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artless or unsophisticated
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lacking developed powers of analysis, reasoning, or criticism
a naive argument
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another word for primitive
noun
Usage
This word is spelled with a dieresis over the i (ï) in French, indicating that it is a separate vowel sound. Many people retain this spelling when writing in English.
Other Word Forms
- naively adverb
- naiveness noun
- unnaive adjective
Etymology
Origin of naive
First recorded in 1645–55; from French, feminine of naïf, Old French naif “natural, instinctive,” from Latin nātīvus native
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.
This is how naive I was: I thought, Wow, that’s great.
From Slate • Mar. 29, 2026
A Labour MP who resigned as a Cabinet Office minister has said he was "naive" and "so sorry" in his first full interview since leaving his role.
From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026
I mean, this could be naive, but I feel 100% safe that you are never going to replicate an evening of stand-up at a nigtclub like that.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2026
This movie makes the point, with a naive White man seeing to his horror what it meant to be Black in the South and really not understanding it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
Anything I say will make me sound naive.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
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.
