guileless

guile·less

adj \ˈgī(-ə)l-ləs\

Definition of GUILELESS

: innocent, naive

— guile·less·ly adverb

— guile·less·ness noun

Examples of GUILELESS

1. <she was an easygoing, guileless young woman who was comfortable just being herself>

First Known Use of GUILELESS

circa 1616

Related to GUILELESS

Synonyms: artless, genuine, honest, ingenuous, innocent, naive (or naïve), natural, real, simple, sincere, true, unaffected, unpretending, unpretentious, on the level

Antonyms: affected, artful, artificial, assuming, dishonest, dissembling, dissimulating, fake, false, guileful, insincere, phony (also phoney), pretentious

Related Words: childlike, dewy-eyed, gee-whiz, impressionable, inexperienced, malleable, persuadable, persuasible, simpleminded, unsophisticated, unworldly, wide-eyed; spontaneous, unforced, unstudied; candid, direct, frank, free, free-spoken, open, openhearted, plain, plainspoken, single-minded, straight, straightforward, unguarded; trustful, trusting; exploitable, gullible (also gullable), susceptible, unwary

Near Antonyms: critical, cynical, mistrustful, skeptical, suspicious, wary; cosmopolitan, sophisticated, worldly, worldly-wise; civilized, cultivated, cultured, polished, refined; crooked, deceitful, deceptive, devious, double-dealing, hypocritical, manipulative, two-faced; arch, calculating, canny, crafty, cunning, designing, foxy, knavish, scheming, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, slippery, sly, subtle, tricky, underhanded, wily; flattering, mealymouthed, smooth, sycophantic, unctuous; feigned, forced, strained

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