naive adj 1: marked by or showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile or worldly experience; "a teenager's naive ignorance of life"; "the naive assumption that things can only get better"; "this naive simple creature with wide friendly eyes so eager to believe appearances" [syn: naive, naif] [ant: sophisticated] 2: of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style; "primitive art such as that by Grandma Moses is often colorful and striking" [syn: primitive, naive] 3: inexperienced 4: lacking information or instruction; "lamentably unenlightened as to the laws" [syn: uninstructed, unenlightened, naive] 5: not initiated; deficient in relevant experience; "it seemed a bizarre ceremony to uninitiated western eyes"; "he took part in the experiment as a naive subject" [syn: uninitiate, uninitiated, naive]

naive naevi

naive 1654, from Fr. naive, fem. of naif, from O.Fr. naif "naive, natural, just born," from L. nativus "native, rustic" (see native). Naivet? is 1673, from Fr. naivet?, from O.Fr. naivet? "native disposition."

naive or naïve adjective (naiver; -est) Etymology: French naïve, feminine of naïf, from Old French, inborn, natural, from Latin nativus native Date: 1654 1. marked by unaffected simplicity ; artless, ingenuous 2. a. deficient in worldly wisdom or informed judgment; especially credulous b. not previously subjected to experimentation or a particular experimental situation <made the test with naive rats>; also not having previously used a particular drug (as marijuana) c. not having been exposed previously to an antigen <naive T cells> 3. a. self-taught, primitive b. produced by or as if by a self-taught artist <naive murals> Synonyms: see natural • naively or naïvely adverb • naiveness noun

naive also naïve If you describe someone as naive, you think they lack experience and so expect things to be easy or people to be honest or kind. It's naive to think that teachers are always tolerant... ...naive idealists... Their view was that he had been politically naive. = unrealistic ADJ: oft it v-link ADJ to-inf, ADJ to-inf • naively ...naively applying Western solutions to Eastern problems... I thought, naively, that this would be a nine-to-five job. ADV: usu ADV with v • naivety I was alarmed by his naivety and ignorance of international affairs. N-UNCOUNT

Naive \Na"["i]ve`\, a. [F. na["i]f, fem. na["i]ve, fr. L. nativus innate, natural, native. See Native, and cf. Na["i]f.] Having native or unaffected simplicity; ingenuous; artless; frank; as, na["i]ve manners; a na["i]ve person; na["i]ve and unsophisticated remarks.

naive adj. 1. Untutored in the perversities of some particular program or system; one who still tries to do things in an intuitive way, rather than the right way (in really good designs these coincide, but most designs aren't `really good' in the appropriate sense). This trait is completely unrelated to general maturity or competence, or even competence at any other specific program. It is a sad commentary on the primitive state of computing that the natural opposite of this term is often claimed to be `experienced user' but is really more like `cynical user'. 2. Said of an algorithm that doesn't take advantage of some superior but advanced technique, e.g., the bubble sort. It may imply naivete on the part of the programmer, although there are situations where a naive algorithm is preferred, because it is more important to keep the code comprehensible than to go for maximum performance. "I know the linear search is naive, but in this case the list typically only has half a dozen items." Compare brute force.

116 Moby Thesaurus words for "naive": artless, awkward, befoolable, blankminded, bluff, blunt, born yesterday, budding, callow, candid, childlike, confiding, credulous, cullible, deceivable, deludable, dependent, depending, dewy, direct, dumb, dupable, easy, empty, empty-headed, exploitable, foolable, frank, fresh, gauche, green, groping, growing, guileless, gullible, hoaxable, hoodwinkable, humbugable, ignorant, immature, impubic, inane, inexperienced, ingenu, ingenuous, innocent, intact, juicy, know-nothing, minor, nescient, new-fledged, open, openhearted, original, outspoken, persuadable, plain, raw, reliant, relying, ripening, sappy, seduceable, simple, simplehearted, simpleminded, sincere, single-hearted, single-minded, soft, strange to, susceptible, tender, tentative, trustful, trusting, trusty, unacquainted, unadult, unaffected, unapprized, unartificial, uncomprehending, unconversant, underage, undeveloped, unenlightened, unfamiliar, unfledged, unformed, unguarded, unilluminated, uninformed, uninitiated, unintelligent, unknowing, unlicked, unmellowed, unposted, unreserved, unripe, unschooled, unseasoned, unsophisticated, unstudied, unsure, unsuspecting, unsuspicious, unversed, unwary, vacuous, vernal, victimizable, virginal, without suspicion

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