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Meaning of Ingenue | Babel Free

Noun CEFR B1
ˈɑnʒənu

Definitions

  1. An innocent, unsophisticated, naïve, wholesome girl or young woman.
  2. Alternative spelling of ingenue.
    alt-of, alternative
  3. A dramatic role of such a woman; an actress playing such a role.

Equivalents

Français ingénue ingénue
Magyar szende
Italiano ingenue ingenue
Русский инженю́

Examples

“She was seen as a gifted pop-country ingenue when, in a now infamous moment, Kanye West interrupted Swift onstage at the 2009 VMAs while she was accepting an award. The incident set in motion a chain of events that would shape the next decade of both artists’ lives.”
“The intelligent and talented blonde who was fluent in English, French and Spanish was interested in art and joined a local theater group to work on set designs but wound up on stage playing an ingenue in Liliom and was spotted by director Vincente Minnelli.”
“Mr. Acheson's failure as Secretary of State ... has been an inability to understand people or to be understood by them.”
“I cannot resist citing, slightly out of context, another bit of Baudelaire: "Satan s'est fait ingénu" (Satan has made himself into an ingenue [Oeuvres Completes 640])”
“America why callow ingenue bile?”
“Wow. The consensual molestation of an ingénue by means of surveillance and recording equipment. How would Foucault have read this?”

CEFR level

B1
Intermediate
This word is part of the CEFR B1 vocabulary — intermediate level.
See all B1 English words →

See also

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