variants
or naif
as in naive
lacking in worldly wisdom or informed judgment
the senator, newly elected and still naïf, will learn soon enough how Washington really works
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
variants
or naif
as in virgin
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of naïf
Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 21 Nov. 2023
Colorful naif pictures by Katie Hickey and text arranged in substantial chunks make this perfect for browsing by young readers with an interest in engineering or architecture.
—Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 12 Aug. 2022
Alison Herman, Variety, 27 Feb. 2025
Rogan, wearing his persona as a babe-in-the-woods naif, listened to this nonsense in slack-jawed stupefaction.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2024
Both stand in stark contrast to the naif played by Daniela Komędera, who enjoys any prompts for activities and appears glad to be relieved of any opportunity to have to think for herself.
—Stephen Saito, Variety, 20 Mar. 2025
David himself is a generic naif whose sole distinguishing trait is a passion for music, curiously sung in unsubtitled Hebrew while the spoken dialogue is in English.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 27 Feb. 2025
Rogan, wearing his persona as a babe-in-the-woods naif, listened to this nonsense in slack-jawed stupefaction.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2024
Farrow, presenting in the early scenes as an utter naif, discovers the pleasures of running cons; LuPone, who shows up a hellion, develops a sensitivity and nurturing spirit to the lost soul who’s provided her character a home.
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 13 Sep. 2024
Angourie Rice plays our ostensible heroine Cady Heron as more of an earnest naif.
—Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 11 Jan. 2024
Reasonable readers will arrive at varied opinions about the taste of all this—the facts are the facts, and the narrative pulses with empathy, but the tone at times resembles cosmic horror, as if Ehrenfest were a Lovecraftian naif driven mad after glimpsing an Elder God.
—Amy Brady, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2023
Adjective
Most illustrators play up the coziness of the tale, what with children all snug in their beds dreaming of sugarplums and suchlike, but the friendly lines and marzipan colors of Ms. Beech’s naif illustrations take coziness to a new level.
—Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 21 Nov. 2023
Colorful naif pictures by Katie Hickey and text arranged in substantial chunks make this perfect for browsing by young readers with an interest in engineering or architecture.
—Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 12 Aug. 2022
Noun
David himself is a generic naif whose sole distinguishing trait is a passion for music, curiously sung in unsubtitled Hebrew while the spoken dialogue is in English.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 27 Feb. 2025
Rogan, wearing his persona as a babe-in-the-woods naif, listened to this nonsense in slack-jawed stupefaction.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2024
Both stand in stark contrast to the naif played by Daniela Komędera, who enjoys any prompts for activities and appears glad to be relieved of any opportunity to have to think for herself.
—Stephen Saito, Variety, 20 Mar. 2025
David himself is a generic naif whose sole distinguishing trait is a passion for music, curiously sung in unsubtitled Hebrew while the spoken dialogue is in English.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 27 Feb. 2025
Rogan, wearing his persona as a babe-in-the-woods naif, listened to this nonsense in slack-jawed stupefaction.
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2024
Farrow, presenting in the early scenes as an utter naif, discovers the pleasures of running cons; LuPone, who shows up a hellion, develops a sensitivity and nurturing spirit to the lost soul who’s provided her character a home.
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 13 Sep. 2024
Angourie Rice plays our ostensible heroine Cady Heron as more of an earnest naif.
—Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 11 Jan. 2024
Reasonable readers will arrive at varied opinions about the taste of all this—the facts are the facts, and the narrative pulses with empathy, but the tone at times resembles cosmic horror, as if Ehrenfest were a Lovecraftian naif driven mad after glimpsing an Elder God.
—Amy Brady, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for naïf
Adjective
-
The credulous faith that these superpowers will voluntarily settle for some form of peaceful coexistence, if only they are sufficiently propitiated with concessions, is naive and dangerous.—
Michael Miklaucic,
Twin Cities,
5 Apr. 2025
-
Similarly naive are Trump’s and Biden’s attempts to regulate access to AI information — such as China’s AI restrictions.—
Lutz Finger,
Forbes.com,
31 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Deadline is hearing the script is about Delaney Pitts, a nerdy teenage virgin who has a secret online life as an erotic fan fiction author.—
Justin Kroll,
Deadline,
8 Apr. 2025
-
And while virgins do have the lowest risk overall, this number has declined significantly over time.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
4 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Currently, a pastel purple bag is listed on eBay for $1,600, a pastel blue tote is priced at $1,400, a pastel green bag is going for $1,100, while one pastel pink tote was listed for $999.99.—
Charna Flam,
People.com,
9 Apr. 2025
-
In particular, the USM Haller modular system tracing back to 1965 and here featuring fixtures provided by Laufen is rendered in the brand’s green color.—
Sandra Salibian,
Footwear News,
8 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
In order to stop this nefarious group from killing more innocents, the BAU is forced to work alongside an increasingly unpredictable Voit who has his own agenda.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
5 Mar. 2025
-
According to human rights organizations, most were denied due process, innocents including children were detained, and hundreds were tortured in jail and died.—
Tracy Wilkinson,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
The fledgling company was Isomorphic Labs, the secretive artificial intelligence life sciences startup spun out of Google DeepMind after one of the biggest biological breakthroughs in the last 50 years.—
Hayden Field,
CNBC,
9 Apr. 2025
-
For fledgling businesses with limited capital, small in-house teams and modest infrastructural capabilities, BPO is an option that can offer a cost-effective and accelerated way to scale their operation.—
Vidya Plainfield,
Forbes.com,
7 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The author came to Canada from England in 1923 as a 23-year-old greenhorn.—
Anton Money,
Outdoor Life,
15 Aug. 2024
-
Hence the herring, every greenhorn’s rite of passage on the Wizard.—
Ashley Boucher,
EW.com,
11 June 2024
Noun
-
Made with a leather outer and 100 percent sheep leather lining, the shoes have a stunning glossy finish that is complimented by a nylon twill bow.—
Alicia Geigel,
Southern Living,
28 Mar. 2025
-
Those spruce trees had colonized fields once used for sheep farming.—
Jennifer Wolcott,
The Christian Science Monitor,
19 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Standing inside the winner’s circle after piloting Tappan Street to victory in the $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, Saez sensed the real possibility that the colt could be his salvation – his redemption.—
Clark Spencer,
Miami Herald,
30 Mar. 2025
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The no-dallying mindset, strikingly similar to that of Coal Battle, is a huge advantage over the colts — and there are a lot of them out there — who don’t yet know how to focus their juvenile energy.—
Guy Martin,
Forbes.com,
26 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Naïf.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/na%C3%AFf. Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.
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