variants also naïvety
chiefly British

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of naivety Unlike many child actors, Wright isn’t precocious so much as devastatingly genuine in her peculiar blend of wisdom and naivety. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 5 Feb. 2025 The show navigated the stars' early domestic lives, with Simpson's apparent naivety endearing her to viewers. John Mac Ghlionn, Newsweek, 14 Jan. 2025 Confronted with Prussia’s world-class public educational system and effective tariffs, the British elite fretted about the naivety of free trade and the quality of their country’s breeding stock. John Micklethwait, Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2014 Sometimes, these declarations are the product of naivety; other times, it’s done for clicks. Henry McIntosh, Forbes, 15 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for naivety
Recent Examples of Synonyms for naivety
Noun
  • Pitino maintained his innocence throughout that scandal, which included allegations that Adidas representatives funneled $100,000 to the family of a Louisville recruit.
    Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 17 Mar. 2025
  • However, O’Neill Burke said the office’s position on issuing certificates of innocence has shifted.
    Madeline Buckley, Chicago Tribune, 17 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Trump has indulged in overly optimistic rhetoric about Moscow’s sincerity, and questions about his true aims linger.
    Christopher S. Chivvis, Foreign Affairs, 18 Mar. 2025
  • The pair’s smiles—seemingly so warm just moments prior—now appear painfully, alarmingly, pasted on, throwing their earlier sincerity into question.
    Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • In turn, the film presents the trio as the three versions of womanhood: Pinky’s youth and naivete, Millie’s seductive ambition, and Willie’s maternal homemaker warmth.
    Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 3 Mar. 2025
  • There’s a lot of naivete, certainly, in certain forms of popular music.
    Katherine Turman, SPIN, 3 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • This executive order is politically motivated, cruel and based on ignorance, not on facts.
    Amy-lynn Fischer, The Mercury News, 3 Mar. 2025
  • This condition is what philosopher Charles Mills, speaking of the American context, labeled epistemological ignorance—a deliberate unknowing, an insistence on the myth of white superiority, of white exceptionalism.
    Christine Winter, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Naivety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/naivety. Accessed 23 Mar. 2025.

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