Meaning

An innocent, unsophisticated, naïve, wholesome girl or young woman..

Definitions by Sense

1. An innocent, unsophisticated, naïve, wholesome girl or young woman.
2. (theater, film) A dramatic role of such a woman; an actress playing such a role.
3. (rare) Misspelling of ingenu.

Example Sentences

Near-synonym: girl next door

She was seen as a gifted pop-country ingenue when, in a now infamous moment, Kanye West interrupted Swift onstage at the 2009 VMAs while she was accepting an award. The incident set in motion a chain of events that would shape the next decade of both artists’ lives.

The intelligent and talented blonde who was fluent in English, French and Spanish was interested in art and joined a local theater group to work on set designs but wound up on stage playing an ingenue in Liliom and was spotted by director Vincente Minnelli.

Mr. Acheson's failure as Secretary of State ... has been an inability to understand people or to be understood by them.

I cannot resist citing, slightly out of context, another bit of Baudelaire: "Satan s'est fait ingénu" (Satan has made himself into an ingenue [Oeuvres Completes 640])

America why callow ingenue bile?

Word Forms

• ingenues
• ingénue

Synonyms for ingenue

Antonyms for ingenue

Related Words

When Should You Use Ingenue?

Use ingenue when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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