adjective
- having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of artificiality; unsophisticated; ingenuous.
- having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information; credulous: She’s so naive she believes everything she reads. He has a very naive attitude toward politics.
- having or marked by a simple, unaffectedly direct style reflecting little or no formal training or technique: valuable naive 19th-century American portrait paintings.
- not having previously been the subject of a scientific experiment, as an animal.
adjective
-
- having or expressing innocence and credulity; ingenuous
- (as collective noun; preceded by the)only the naive believed him
- artless or unsophisticated
- lacking developed powers of analysis, reasoning, or criticisma naive argument
- another word for primitive (def. 5)
noun
- rare a person who is naive, esp in artistic styleSee primitive (def. 10)
adj.1650s, “natural, simple, artless,” from French naïve, fem. of naïf, from Old French naif “naive, natural, genuine; just born; foolish, innocent; unspoiled, unworked” (13c.), from Latin nativus “not artificial,” also “native, rustic,” literally “born, innate, natural” (see native (adj.)). Related: Naively. adj.
- Lacking worldliness and sophistication.
- Simple and credulous as a child.
- Not previously subjected to experiments.
- Not having previously taken or received a particular drug.
n.
- One who is artless, credulous, or uncritical.