naivete

noun

na·​ive·​te nä-ˌēv-ˈtā 

-ˌē-və-;

nä-ˈēv-ˌtā,

-ˈē-və-;

nī-

variants or naïveté or less commonly naiveté

1

: a naive remark or action

The farce is noted for its ridiculous acts and naïvetés.

2

: the quality or state of being naive

His account sometimes displays a gee-whiz naiveté …

—Gregory McNamee

Synonyms

• artlessness
• greenness
• guilelessness
• ingenuousness
• innocence
• naiveness
• naivety [chiefly British]
• naïvety
• naturalness
• simplemindedness
• simpleness
• simplicity
• unsophistication
• unworldliness
• viridity

Examples of naivete in a Sentence

her naïveté led her to leave her new car unlocked while she shopped at the mall

though he was streetwise, the investigative reporter regularly assumed an air of naïveté when he was interviewing confidence men, charlatans, counterfeiters, and other assorted swindlers of the general public

Recent Examples on the Web

Perhaps the spectacle of naivete is all part of the Altman image. —Allison Morrow, CNN, 5 Dec. 2024

So Americans who don't travel, who 80 percent don't have a passport, who are uneducated, are in their extraordinary naivete. —Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2024

The naivete is challenging to understand when attackers use virtually every standard tool—from hardware and software to cloud resources—to conduct their operations. —Denis Mandich, Forbes, 21 Oct. 2024

Anderson plays Shelley with a consummate sweetness that sometimes registers as naivete. —Esther Zuckerman, TIME, 7 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

French naïveté, from Old French, inborn character, from naif

First Known Use

1673, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

naïvete

noun

na·​ïve·​te

variants also naivete

(ˌ)nä-ˌēv(-ə)-ˈtā,

nä-ˈēv(-ə)-tā

1

: the quality or state of being naive

2

: a naive remark or action