ingenuous \In*gen"u*ous\, a. [L. ingenuus inborn, innate, freeborn, noble, frank; pref. in- in + the root of gignere to beget. See Genius, and cf. Ingenious.] 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.] --Shak.
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. --G. P. Marsh.
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.
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]