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.
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}.