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naively
[ nah-eev-lee ]
adverb
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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Other Words From
- un·na·ive·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins
Origin of naively1
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Example Sentences
Would I hang these works in my living room, the visitor naïvely asks himself?
"It's easier to have you with me, Uncle Calvin," returned Sylvia naïvely.
"Perhaps he wants to borrow his boat," replied Sylvia naïvely.
As Dumbleshaw naïvely puts it, “having saved their country, these gallant gentlemen naturally took it for themselves.”
This Dorothy is a thoroughly ingenuous young person, naïvely outspoken to the point of silliness.
He remarks naïvely that if you could build a fire and give them something hot to eat, the sickness was dispelled!
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