ingenuous

/in-ˈjen-yə-wəs/

Latin ingenuus native, freeborn, from in- + gignere to beget

adjective

  1. showing innocent or childlike simplicity and candidness

  2. lacking craft or subtlety

  3. noble, honorable

her ingenuous thirst for experience

ingenuous in their brutality

natural ingenuous naive unsophisticated artless mean free from pretension or calculation. natural implies lacking artificiality and self-consciousness and having a spontaneousness suggesting the natural rather than the man-made world. ingenuous implies inability to disguise or conceal one's feelings or intentions.

adjective

  1. ingenious