in·gen·u·ous

[in-jen-yoo-uhs]
adjective
1.
free from reserve, restraint, or dissimulation; candid; sincere.
2.
artless; innocent; naive.
3.
Obsolete. honorable or noble.

Origin:
1590–1600; < Latin ingenuus native, free-born, honorable, frank, equivalent to in- in-2 + gen- (base of gignere; see ingenious) + -uus deverbal adj. suffix; see -ous

in·gen·u·ous·ly, adverb
in·gen·u·ous·ness, noun
half-in·gen·u·ous, adjective
half-in·gen·u·ous·ly, adverb
half-in·gen·u·ous·ness, noun

ingenious, ingenuous (see usage note at ingenious).


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


See ingenious.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary
ingenuous (ɪnˈdʒɛnjʊəs) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
1.  naive, artless, or innocent
2.  candid; frank; straightforward
 
[C16: from Latin ingenuus freeborn, worthy of a freeman, virtuous, from in-² + -genuus, from gignere to beget]
 
in'genuously
 
adv
 
in'genuousness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

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, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
The claim is perhaps cagily ingenuous, by a writer often accused of being too
  cerebral and cool-hearted.
In some of their protests that they cannot change laws, agencies are being
  ingenuous.
Everyone was flexible and ingenuous and looked for ways to keep things going.
It is impossible not to accept it in the ingenuous spirit in which it was
  fabricated.
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