naivety
Americannoun
noun
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the state or quality of being naive; ingenuousness; simplicity
-
a naive act or statement
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Explanation
Naivety refers to a lack of experience or sophistication. That taxi driver who charged your Aunt Fay $75 for the ride from the airport was taking advantage of her naivety — your aunt didn’t know it should only cost $50. The noun naivety often refers to the kind of inexperience that allows you to be tricked, but it can also refer to a trusting innocent or a lack of sophistication. For example, if you think you can treat your boss’s daughter like any other employee and just say whatever you want when you have lunch, you may be exhibiting naivety — she may tell your boss what you said.
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.
See Examples For:
A microbudget director saving the summer box office with a thoughtfully gruesome movie about naivety, misogyny and consequences is an inspiring Oscars meta-narrative.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
"His performance certainly seems tinged with the courageous naivety of Spider-Man, insisting on trying to influence those much more cunning and physically capable than he," he wrote.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
"I gave $38 million essentially for nothing, which they used to build a company worth $800 billion. I was literally an idiot," he said, blaming his own naivety.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
That isn’t naivety or disloyalty to any American vision of a new world order.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
I thought it necessary to update some of the words so that the religiosity and naivety of the time, which were genuine, would not seem too quaint to the modem ear.
From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara
But, as I advanced through the book, I saw those naiveties slip away, away from Brown, away from his family and away from his pictures.
From Time ● Jul. 20, 2016
And does the U. S. bar from its post such naiveties as this, friends of Judge might hotly demand?
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
