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ingenuous - 4 dictionary results

in⋅gen⋅u⋅ous

  [in-jen-yoo-uhs]
Use ingenuous in a Sentence
–adjective
1. free from reserve, restraint, or dissimulation; candid; sincere.
2. artless; innocent; naive.
3. Obsolete. honorable or noble.
Origin:
1590–1600; < L ingenuus native, free-born, honorable, frank, equiv. to in- in- 2 + gen- (base of gignere; see ingenious ) + -uus deverbal adj. suffix; see -ous

Related forms:
in⋅gen⋅u⋅ous⋅ly, adverb
in⋅gen⋅u⋅ous⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. frank, straightforward, open. 2. guileless.

Usage note:
See ingenious.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To ingenuous
in·gen·u·ous   (ĭn-jěn'yōō-əs)   
adj.  
  1. Lacking in cunning, guile, or worldliness; artless.
  2. Openly straightforward or frank; candid. See Synonyms at naive.
  3. Obsolete Ingenious.

[Latin ingenuus, honest, freeborn; see genə- in Indo-European roots.]
in·gen'u·ous·ly adv., in·gen'u·ous·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Ingenuous

In*gen"u*ous\, a. [L. ingenuus inborn, innate, freeborn, noble, frank; pref. in- in + the root of gignere to beget. See Genius, and cf. Ingenious.]

1. Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous blood of birth.

2. Noble; generous; magnanimous; honorable; upright; high-minded; as, an ingenuous ardor or zeal.

If an ingenuous detestation of falsehood be but carefully and early instilled, that is the true and genuine method to obviate dishonesty. --Locke.

3. Free from reserve, disguise, equivocation, or dissimulation; open; frank; as, an ingenuous man; an ingenuous declaration, confession, etc.

Sensible in myself . . . what a burden it is for me, who would be ingenuous, to be loaded with courtesies which he hath not the least hope to requite or deserve. --Fuller.

4. Ingenious. [Obs.] --Shak.

Note: (Formerly) printers did not discriminate between . . . ingenuous and ingenious, and these words were used or rather printed interchangeably almost to the beginning of the eighteenth century. --G. P. Marsh.

Syn: Open; frank; unreserved; artless; plain; sincere; candid; fair; noble; generous.

Usage: Ingenuous, Open, Frank. One who is open speaks out at once what is uppermost in his mind; one who is frank does it from a natural boldness, or dislike of self-restraint; one who is ingenuous is actuated by a native simplicity and artlessness, which make him willing to confess faults, and make known his sentiments without reserve. See Candid.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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ingenuous 
1598, from L. ingenuus "with the virtues of freeborn people, of noble character, frank," originally "native, freeborn," from in- "in" + gen-, root of gignere "beget, produce" (see genus). Sense of "artless, innocent" is 1673, from notion of "honorably straightforward."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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