Gullible

//ˈɡʌlɪbl̩// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A gullible person; someone easily fooled or tricked.

    "They pictured to these gullibles the unearthly delights that were to be enjoyed as servants of the Spaniards. But such tricks could not last, for Cuba was too close to Saint Domingue, and news of the real conditions leaked across the windward passage and were bruited about."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Easily deceived or duped; naive, easily cheated or fooled.

    "Andrew is so gullible, the way he still believes in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman at the age of fourteen."

Adjective
  1. 1
    easily tricked because of being too trusting wordnet
  2. 2
    naive and easily deceived or tricked wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
unwaryfleeceablefleeceablegreennaifnaive

Example

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"The word "gullible" is not in the dictionary."

Etymology

Origin uncertain. Either from gull (“to dupe, trick, fool”) + -ible; or alternatively from Middle English gole, goll, gol (“an unfledged bird, silly fellow”), perhaps from Old Norse gulr (“yellow, pale”), from the hue of its down.

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