How to Use naive in a Sentence

naive

adjective
Definition of naivenext
Synonyms for naivenext
  • The plan seems a little naive.
  • She asked a lot of naive questions.
  • If you're naive enough to believe him, you'll believe anyone.
  • I was young and naive at the time, and I didn't think anything bad could happen to me.
  • Camille may be naive, but her heart is in the right place.
    — Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Oct. 2019
  • These things get passed around via emails from one gullible and naive nitwit to the next.
    — Tom Margenau, Dallas News, 13 Sep. 2020
  • This is not a naive quest to solve all our problems at once.
    — Katherine Sayre, NOLA.com, 22 May 2017
  • At the same time, the body’s production of naive cells slows down.
    — Sara Reardon, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Sep. 2021
  • America is at once too smart and too stupid to be that naive.
    — Nick Canepa Columnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Aug. 2020
  • The chances seemed so remote at the time that his remarks were almost naive.
    — Scott Harrison, latimes.com, 19 Oct. 2017
  • In this slang, a fruit was ripe for the picking, just like a naive person.
    — Joseph Lamour, Bon Appétit, 22 June 2022
  • Today, that view will seem to some naive and to many dated.
    — Washington Post, 9 Mar. 2021
  • That set off a firestorm of debate about use of the trading app by young or naive investors.
    — David Z. Morris, Fortune, 17 June 2020
  • Call me naive, but this whole concept is tough to fit into my brain.
    — Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 16 May 2022
  • Declaring yet again that Ukraine must take the first step is both immoral and naive.
    — Dmytro Kuleba, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2023
  • The comments in these letters are from a very naive perspective.
    — Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, 24 Sep. 2019
  • Perhaps not so brazen and uncaring, but naive to what the world could be like.
    — Lexi Pandell, WIRED, 31 Aug. 2023
  • Coming from someone else, some of those words might seem naive.
    — Mary Schmich Chicago Tribune (tns), Star Tribune, 30 July 2020
  • For being too naive to see the affair and power issues?
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 1 Oct. 2023
  • The women knew the risks and were not naive about making adult videos, Sadock said.
    — Pauline Repard, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Aug. 2019
  • I am struck first by how naive and splendid everything looks.
    — Eric Boman, Vogue, 24 Nov. 2014
  • But as this past week suggests, that question now sounds rather naive.
    — Emily Jane Fox, The Hive, 22 June 2017
  • Things are going a bit too well for Mia, who is more naive than her friend.
    — Time, 7 Dec. 2022
  • Loyalty is a naive concept that hit the showers, in many places for good.
    — Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Dec. 2023
  • The belief that a border visit would change his approach was naive.
    — William McGurn, WSJ, 9 Jan. 2023
  • Her confident but naive first-born was leaving the nest.
    — Phillip Morris, cleveland.com, 28 May 2017
  • Gift registries are so common now that the very idea of deferring to the donors’ ideas is deemed naive.
    — Washington Post, 2 May 2022
  • That sounds naive to state it starkly, but that’s what we’re dealing with here.
    — Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 21 Dec. 2016
  • What’s hard to tell is whether this is naive or disingenuous.
    — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 13 Oct. 2017
  • But that attitude is perhaps rooted in a more naive era.
    — Craig Laban, Philly.com, 25 Jan. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'naive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: