Entry Word: naïveté

Function: noun

Meaning:

also naivete

1 the quality or state of being simple and sincere <her naïveté led her to leave her new bike outside the mall unchained while she shopped>

Synonyms artlessness, greenness, guilelessness, ingenuousness, innocence, naturalness, simpleness, simplicity, unsophistication, unworldliness

Related Words candor, frankness, genuineness, honesty, openness, sincerity, straightforwardness; callowness, childishness, inexperience, rawness; carelessness, heedlessness; ignorance, obliviousness, unawareness; credulity, credulousness, gullibility; idealism, impracticality, optimism

Near Antonyms affectedness, artificiality, pretentiousness; deviousness, dishonesty, insincerity; disbelief, doubtfulness, incredulity, suspiciousness; carefulness, caution, wariness; pessimism, skepticism; maturity

Antonyms artfulness, cynicism, sophistication, worldliness

2 readiness to believe the claims of others without sufficient evidence <though he was streetwise, the investigative reporter assumed an air of naïveté when he was interviewing confidence men, charlatans, counterfeiters, and other assorted swindlers of the general public> — see credulity