variants also naivete or naiveté
1
2
as in gullibility
readiness to believe the claims of others without sufficient evidence 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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for naïveté
Noun
  • Cross found prosecutors withheld evidence from Jones' lawyers during the first trial that could have resulted in jurors reaching a different conclusion about his guilt or innocence.
    Dan Horn, The Enquirer, 3 Sep. 2025
  • Mills also denied there was a physical altercation and has maintained his innocence in the matter.
    Nick Mordowanec, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • And in a world where time is money, conditions are ripe for a perfect storm of greed, deceit, and willful gullibility—all in the hope of getting ahead faster than the rest.
    Luis E. Romero, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
  • Ignoring the problem of online gullibility felt irresponsible – even negligent.
    Sam Wineburg, The Conversation, 26 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Was one of Forest’s virtues last season their relative simplicity, which will now be disrupted?
    Nick Miller, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2025
  • For now, the company is betting that simplicity will appeal to customers.
    Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 5 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Guided by these experts, the team establishes credibility backed by science and best practices.
    Nia Bowers, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Stress has been building at the long-end of the yield curve, where investors are most sensitive to fiscal credibility.
    Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 3 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Knowledge-wise, science may be advancing, but, politically, its powers of persuasion are in retreat, in a moment defined, in many ways, by ignorance and narrow-minded grievance.
    Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2025
  • The best romance fiction has the ability to fundamentally change the genre at its core, offering happy endings where only ignorance has existed.
    EW.com, EW.com, 28 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Action movies have long strained the limits of credulity.
    Brian Truitt, USA Today, 3 July 2025
  • The plot beats that follow Dante’s death strain credulity past its breaking point, and the fun quickly wears thin.
    Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 2 May 2025
Noun
  • White, who died in 2021 just shy of her 100th birthday, played a widow and mother of five, Rose, who was known for her naivety.
    Melina Khan, USA Today, 5 Aug. 2025
  • There is a visible naivety to Onley after these big results, a sense of confusion over why the attention on him is so fierce, so quickly.
    Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 25 July 2025
Noun
  • 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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Naïveté.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/na%C3%AFvet%C3%A9. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.

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