as in naturalness
the quality or state of being simple and sincere
his aw-shucks ingenuousness endeared him to his sophisticated new friends
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Recent Examples of ingenuousness
Gilbert’s colloquial style, once a source of great pleasure, has tipped into new territory—an ingenuousness that blends guru and disciple, mother and child.
—
Jia Tolentino, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
Jia Tolentino, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ingenuousness
Noun
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The Windsor family often shares moments during this time of year that reflect their warmth and naturalness.—
María Munsuri,
Glamour,
25 Dec. 2025
-
Frogposting, then, pits the intractably byzantine, soulless and cutthroat nature of the contemporary economy in a simple binary against what the posters envision as the green, healthy, naturalness of the Earth—framed as a joke, the base unit of online commentary.—
Hazlitt,
Hazlitt,
3 Dec. 2025
Noun
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In contrast to the George Floyd civil lawsuit against Minneapolis – a federal case that would have been decided by a jury – everything in a tort lawsuit against the federal government, from guilt or innocence to the amount of a potential reward, would be decided by a federal judge.—
Andy Rose,
CNN Money,
25 Jan. 2026
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But Bob maintained his innocence.—
Sarah Prior,
CBS News,
25 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The third, set in prehistoric times, is dazzling in its simplicity and dramatic rigor, and could’ve easily done without the others.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
27 Jan. 2026
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The low-to-the-ground shoe was overall a showcase of streamlined simplicity with its lack of embellishment and glove-like fit.—
Jaden Thompson,
Footwear News,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Know that conversations deserve deep sincerity.—
Tarot.com,
New York Daily News,
3 Jan. 2026
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Part of what comes to me, Roxana, is my sincerity and my earnestness.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
1 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Still, Dunk believes in himself, like any good hero, and people are drawn to his guilelessness.—
Sarah Larson,
New Yorker,
27 Jan. 2026
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But there’s a guilelessness to everything Bella does, a trust in the universe and an insatiable curiosity about humanity.—
Katie Rife,
Vulture,
9 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ingenuousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ingenuousness. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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