in·gen·u·ous /ɪnˈʤɛnjəwəs/
(a.)坦白的,正直的,天真的
In·gen·u·ous a.
1. Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous blood of birth.
2. Noble; generous; magnanimous; honorable; upright; high-minded; as, an ingenuous ardor or zeal.
If an ingenuous detestation of falsehood be but carefully and early instilled, that is the true and genuine method to obviate dishonesty. --Locke.
3. Free from reserve, disguise, equivocation, or dissimulation; open; frank; as, an ingenuous man; an ingenuous declaration, confession, etc.
Sensible in myself . . . what a burden it is for me, who would be ingenuous, to be loaded with courtesies which he hath not the least hope to requite or deserve. --Fuller.
4. Ingenious. [Obs.]
Note: ☞ (Formerly) printers did not discriminate between . . . ingenuous and ingenious, and these words were used or rather printed interchangeably almost to the beginning of the eighteenth century.
Syn: -- Open; frank; unreserved; artless; plain; sincere; candid; fair; noble; generous.
Usage: -- Ingenuous, Open, Frank. One who is open speaks out at once what is uppermost in his mind; one who is frank does it from a natural boldness, or dislike of self-restraint; one who is ingenuous is actuated by a native simplicity and artlessness, which make him willing to confess faults, and make known his sentiments without reserve. See Candid.
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ingenuous
adj 1: characterized by an inability to mask your feelings; not
devious; "an ingenuous admission of responsibility"
[syn: artless] [ant: disingenuous]
2: lacking in sophistication or worldliness; "a child's
innocent stare"; "his ingenuous explanation that he would
not have burned the church if he had not thought the
bishop was in it" [syn: innocent]