INGENUOUS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Ingenuous

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/ɪndʒˈɛnjuəs/ Listen

adjective

Ingenuous adj.

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."

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."

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.

Synonyms: Open; frank; unreserved; artless; plain; sincere; candid; fair; noble; generous. 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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Etymology of 'Ingenuous'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ingenuous" Quotes from Famous Books

... with emotion, assured me of her gratitude with the ingenuous eloquence peculiar to herself. We embraced as two friends of the Albret set should do, and three days later, the King received a new petition, not signed with the name of Scarron, but ...

— The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, Complete • Madame La Marquise De Montespan

... which the chill atmosphere of the world hangs around the brightest portions of the mind: great at all times, greatest of all when, in a moment of difficulty, she is called upon to decide between the good and the evil, the just and the unjust, the generous and the mean, the ingenuous and the sophistical; and Marguerite, in one glance, saw all that Dumiger had failed to discover in the Count's appearance and manner,—the dark design, the selfish calculation; her simplicity of mind perceived indications of low, mean purposes, ...

— International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. 1, No. 2, July 8, 1850 • Various

... Bateman to go forward with a flag of truce. He was short and plump, with a full, round, ingenuous face. He was chosen, so said Klingensmith, for his plausible ways. He could look right at you when he said anything; and the moment needed a man of this talent. He was to enter the camp and say to the people that the ...

— The Lions of the Lord - A Tale of the Old West • Harry Leon Wilson

... The press was full of his lamentations! He confessed the full extent of his misfortunes in a touchingly ingenuous way: ...

— The Blonde Lady - Being a Record of the Duel of Wits between Arsne Lupin and the English Detective • Maurice Leblanc

... continued the ingenuous Dick, "'twill be better in one sense. I shall by that time be the regular manager of a branch o' father's business, which has very much increased lately, and business, which we think of starting elsewhere. ...

— Under the Greenwood Tree • Thomas Hardy

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