naive Definition
na·ive (nä ēv′)
adjective
- unaffectedly, or sometimes foolishly, simple; childlike; artless
- not suspicious; credulous
Etymology: Fr, fem. of naïf < L nativus, natural, native
naive Related Forms
naive Synonyms
naive
modif.
Antonyms
naive implies a genuine, innocent simplicity or lack of artificiality, but sometimes connotes an almost foolish lack of worldly wisdom his naive belief in the kindness of others; ingenuous implies a frankness or straightforwardness that suggests the simplicity of a child her ingenuous confession of her real motives; artless suggests a lack of artificiality or guile that derives from indifference to the effect one has upon others artless beauty; unsophisticated, like naive, implies a lack of worldly wisdom but connotes that this is the result merely of a lack of experience simple, unsophisticated tastes
naive Usage Examples
Used with adjective complement
- seem: Oh, she was willing enough, just seemed naive, not knowing what was what.
- appear: The images appear immediately naive, accessible, simple.
Infinitive complement
- believe: Most of them were naive enough to believe that the new system would be better than the old.
- assume: It would be naive to assume that archeology could provide physical evidence of Macbeth himself.
- suppose: It would be naive to suppose that Gurthiern had anything to do with the real Vortigern, other than perhaps sharing his name.
- think: Tolkien is naive to think he's escaping anything.
- expect: In retrospect it was perhaps naive to expect schools within the dual system to opt for change at least in the short term.
- suggest: However it would be naive to suggest that the only pressure to move was coming from the Bible itself.
Modifies a noun
- realism: For the sake of argument, let us adopt naive realism.
- optimism: All this must not, however, lead to a naive optimism.
- realist: I do not think many historians today are naive realists.
- idealism: Nevertheless, there is a strong streak of naive idealism in Bush's vision.
- fool: And like a naive fool, I accepted his appreciation and walked into them.
- assumption: Freud's theory largely undermines the naive assumption of symbolic equivalence.
Modifying Another Word
- hopelessly: But it is just hopelessly naive to expect the US to behave routinely like some sort of global philanthropist.
- charmingly: These songs are charmingly naive with some unintentionally funny lyrics ( I hope that's what they are!
- politically: To me this is politically naive in the extreme.
- incredibly: Furthermore, his suggestions for what might replace the UN are incredibly naive.
- somewhat: Don't worry, I would regard you as somewhat naive if you just accepted them without proof.
Preposition: in
extreme: Saying we should throw more public money at our problems is naive in the extreme.
Browse dictionary entries near naive
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