[syn: uninitiate, uninitiated, naive]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
naive \na*ive"\, naive \na*["i]ve"\(n[aum]*[=e]v"), a. [F.
na["i]f, fem. na["i]ve, fr. L. nativus innate, natural,
native. See Native, and cf. Na["i]f.]
1. Having native or unaffected simplicity; ingenuous;
artless; frank; as, na["i]ve manners; a na["i]ve person;
na["i]ve and unsophisticated remarks.
[1913 Webster]
2. Having a lack of knowledge, judgment, or experience;
especially, lacking sophistication in judging the motives
of others; credulous; as, a naive belief in the honesty of
politicians.
[PJC]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
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]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
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
The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
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.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
naive
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".
(1994-11-29)