ingenue
8
9.8
- noun
- /ˈænʒəˌnu/
- Literature
- The director cast her as the ingenue, a naive young woman who falls in love.
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Watch on YouTubeAnd I said, please you, you could still play the ingenue.
- And I said, please you, you could still play the ingenue.
- Right, but Sarah Jessica Parker, I think was the ingenue in this.
Examples
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She's like the classic film ingenue- bright, complicated, but with a softer side...
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She's perfect for the ingenue in this film.
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Give the sweet, young ingenue act a rest.
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The ingenue from out of town?
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Would you not rather have your precious little ingenue?
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For just a moment, I caught a glimpse of a twenty-year-old ingenue.
Fiction book (1997) -
Elizabeth at 15 seemed almost an ingenue and socially dull-witted.
Blog text (34) -
This helps to create that starry eyed ingenue sort of look.
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She was an ingenue at the Drury Lane Theater.
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The lead is an ingenue, a sterling young actress named Dolores Fuller.
Fiction book (1994)
Synonyms
3
8.1
A person who is inexperienced and easily harmed or tricked
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word ingenue comes from French ingénue, which means 'naive' or 'innocent', and that French word comes from Latin ingenuus, which meant 'natural' or 'freeborn'. So an ingenue is a young, innocent woman in a play or film, and you can remember it because it is like the English word ingenuous, which also means 'open' or 'naive'.