Meaning & use
ingenuine
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivecomparablerare
Not real or sincere; showing a feeling that is not truly felt.
Grammar: Rare and nonstandard; use insincere, disingenuous, or not genuine instead.
Patterns
- an ingenuine smile
- ingenuine praise
Her ingenuine smile never reached her eyes.
The politician's ingenuine apology convinced nobody.
Readers sensed that the reviewer's praise was ingenuine.
Word forms
| comparative | more ingenuine |
|---|---|
| superlative | most ingenuine |
Common combinations
- ingenuine smile
- His ingenuine smile faded as soon as the camera left.
- ingenuine praise
- Students quickly notice ingenuine praise.
- ingenuine apology
- An ingenuine apology often sounds rehearsed.
- ingenuine enthusiasm
- Her ingenuine enthusiasm was easy to see through.
Synonyms and how they differ
- insincere
- Insincere is the standard, widely accepted word for feelings or words that are not truly meant.
- disingenuous
- Disingenuous suggests a person pretends to be frank or innocent while hiding a motive, which is slightly sharper than ingenuine.
- fake
- Fake is informal and blunt, whereas ingenuine is more polite and rare.
- artificial
- Artificial is used for manner or things made by people, and sounds less accusing of a person's motives.
Opposites
Word family
- genuine adjective
- real and sincere
- genuinely adverb
- truly, sincerely
- genuineness noun
- the quality of being sincere
- disingenuous adjective
- not candid, pretending to be innocent
Commonly confused: ingenuine or ingenuous? ingenuine or disingenuous?
ingenuine vs ingenuous
Ingenuous means innocent and sincere, close to the opposite of ingenuine, and is a different word.
ingenuine vs disingenuous
Disingenuous is the standard word; it describes someone who is not honest about their real motives.
Practice
The salesman's friendly tone seemed ____, so the customer did not trust him. Which standard word fits best?
Choose one answer.
Insincere is the standard word for a tone that is not meant. Ingenuous, naive, and candid describe honesty or innocence, which would not cause distrust.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ingenuine”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.