Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
gullibly

gullibly

6.5
In a way that makes someone believe things too easily without checking
  • adverb
  • /ˈɡʌlɪbli/
translation icon : credulamente
  • He gullibly accepted the advertisement's claims without doing any research.

Examples

  • The tourists were gullibly convinced that the street performer could actually read minds.

  • She gullibly believed everything he told her, even the wildest stories.

  • In the third place, and this I consider to be the most serious problem, the tabula rasa concept portrays the young person as essentially passive, willingly and gullibly subject to external influence attempts, especially those of the home and the school.

    Academic text (1995)

  • People blindly and gullibly conceded defeat to Monsanto's campaign of lies, distortions, and obfuscations regarding GMO labeling.

    Blog text (15)

Synonyms

credulously
vsgullibly
1 7.7

In a way that shows you believe things too easily

shows belief too easily rather than careful questioning
believingly
vsgullibly
8.9

In a way that shows you accept something as true

involves believing too easily rather than confident justified trust

How Gullible

gullibly
6.5
naively
13 4.4
trustingly
1 2.8

Surface Forms

gullibly positive

Morphology

gullibly = gullible (transparent) = gull + ible + ly

Formed by the regular adverbial suffix '-ly' from the adjective 'gullible'; the adjective itself is interpretable as 'gull' + '-ible' meaning 'able to be fooled'.

Etymology

Gullibly comes from gull, an old word for a person who is easily fooled, plus the ending -ly that makes it an adverb. One helpful image is a seagull quickly taking food, so gullibly means acting 'in a way that shows you believe things too easily'.