1
: having or marked by unsophisticated or uncritical acceptance or admiration : naive
wide-eyed innocence
2
: having the eyes wide open especially with wonder or astonishment
Synonyms
Examples of wide-eyed in a Sentence
a wide-eyed and trusting child
the sort of phony UFO "artifacts" that wide-eyed tourists fall for
Recent Examples on the Web
Her portrayal of the wide-eyed Priscilla Presley, in particular, reminds me of Ana de Armas in Knives Out: An innocent slowly begins to understand how fame and wealth become corrupting forces.
—
Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 30 May 2024
Director/star James Franco transforms almost beyond recognition to play The Room’s eccentric mastermind, Tommy Wiseau, while his real-life brother Dave Franco plays Sestero, the wide-eyed aspiring actor who gets caught in Wiseau’s strange orbit.
—Janey Tracey, EW.com, 23 May 2024
Most notable, however, was Hannibal Lecter, played by a wide-eyed Michael Longfellow who was rolled into frame on a dolly while masked and straitjacketed like in the Oscar-winning film.
—William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2024
My wide-eyed, naive yet extremely motivated 21-year-old self got on that plane and never looked back.
—Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 16 May 2024
Paramedics lifted the tiny, wide-eyed child out of his wheelchair and onto a gurney that dwarfed him even further.
—Ana Ley, New York Times, 5 May 2024
Since the band’s 2007 live debut, their signature heavy-metal disco and pummeling theatricality have sent fans into wide-eyed frenzies.
—Kat Bein, SPIN, 26 Apr. 2024
An incredibly game Barbara Crampton aids Combs in his wide-eyed pursuit of looniness.
—Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 26 Apr. 2024
Whereas an older meme such as the indelible Doge—a wide-eyed Shiba Inu from a photograph taken in Japan—percolated online for years before becoming mega-popular, the Donghua Jinlong memes tore across TikTok in a matter of weeks.
—Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 24 Apr. 2024
Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 30 May 2024
Director/star James Franco transforms almost beyond recognition to play The Room’s eccentric mastermind, Tommy Wiseau, while his real-life brother Dave Franco plays Sestero, the wide-eyed aspiring actor who gets caught in Wiseau’s strange orbit.
—Janey Tracey, EW.com, 23 May 2024
Most notable, however, was Hannibal Lecter, played by a wide-eyed Michael Longfellow who was rolled into frame on a dolly while masked and straitjacketed like in the Oscar-winning film.
—William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2024
My wide-eyed, naive yet extremely motivated 21-year-old self got on that plane and never looked back.
—Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 16 May 2024
Paramedics lifted the tiny, wide-eyed child out of his wheelchair and onto a gurney that dwarfed him even further.
—Ana Ley, New York Times, 5 May 2024
Since the band’s 2007 live debut, their signature heavy-metal disco and pummeling theatricality have sent fans into wide-eyed frenzies.
—Kat Bein, SPIN, 26 Apr. 2024
An incredibly game Barbara Crampton aids Combs in his wide-eyed pursuit of looniness.
—Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 26 Apr. 2024
Whereas an older meme such as the indelible Doge—a wide-eyed Shiba Inu from a photograph taken in Japan—percolated online for years before becoming mega-popular, the Donghua Jinlong memes tore across TikTok in a matter of weeks.
—Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 24 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wide-eyed.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near wide-eyed
Cite this Entry
“Wide-eyed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wide-eyed. Accessed 8 Jun. 2024.
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