guileless

English

Etymology

From guile +‎ -less.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡaɪl.ləs/, [ˈɡaɪɫ.ləs]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

guileless (comparative more guileless, superlative most guileless)

1. Free from guile; honest but naive.
   • 1923 February 11, Mme. X. [pseudonym], “News of Chicago Society: Now That War’s Over, On with Full Dress, Men”, in The Chicago Sunday Tribune, final edition, volume LXXXII, number 6, Chicago, Ill., →ISSN, →OCLC, part 7, page 5, columns 6–7:

     To foreigners we often seem guileless and overchatty, an impression which is dispersed when they find that much of our friendliness is just the ebullition of the moment and does not carry with it any permanence of devotion.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:naive

Derived terms

• guilelessly
• guilelessness

Translations

honest but naive

• Bengali: নিষ্কপট (bn) (niśkopoṭ), কুটিলতাবর্জিত (bn) (kuʈilôtabôrjitô)
• Bulgarian: наивен (bg) (naiven), простодушен (bg) (prostodušen)
• Catalan: candorós (ca)
• Dutch: argeloos (nl)
• Esperanto: simplanima
• French: candide (fr)
• German: arglos (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἄδολος (ádolos), εὐήθης (euḗthēs)

• Icelandic: falslaus; einlægur (is); heiðvirður
• Irish: soineanta
• Italian: ingenuo (it)
• Marathi: निष्कपट (niṣkapaṭ)
• Occitan: candid (oc), candide (oc)
• Tamil: வெள்ளை (ta) (veḷḷai)