Disingenuous

//ˌdɪs.ɪnˈd͡ʒɛn.ju.əs// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Not honourable; unworthy of honour.
  2. 2
    Not ingenuous; not frank or open.

    "I am not so vain as to think these Remarks free from faults, nor so disingenuous as not to confess them:"

  3. 3
    Assuming a pose of naïveté to make a point or for deception.

    "But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea."

Adjective
  1. 1
    not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
apparently soundartfulartfulcalculatingcasuisticclever

Example

More examples

"The judge thought that the witness's evidence was disingenuous and unconvincing."

Etymology

From dis- + ingenuous.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.