guilelessly
guilelessly — adverb
1. acting or speaking with absolute frankness and sincerity, never trying to mislea
acting or speaking with absolute frankness and sincerity, never trying to mislead anyone, conceal facts, or gain a selfish advantage
Sofia smiled guilelessly at the interviewer and answered every question with disarming honesty.
guilelessly + verb of communication (smiled, said, replied)
The child guilelessly told the neighbour exactly what his parents had argued about the night before.
Guilelessly, Rania offered the last piece of cake to her colleague even though she was still hungry.
Eli admitted guilelessly that he had never heard of the famous author everyone else was discussing.
Xiu listened guilelessly to the salesman's claims and signed the contract without a moment's hesitation.
- naively
suggests inexperience or lack of worldliness rather than deliberate honesty
- innocently
focuses on the absence of wrongdoing, not just the absence of deceit
- frankly
stresses directness and truthfulness without necessarily implying a gentle or trusting nature
- openly
emphasises transparency of action rather than purity of motive
- deceitfully
deliberately misleading others
- slyly
acting with secretive cleverness to gain an advantage
文法句型
guilelessly + verb
guilelessly, + clause
用法筆記
Commonly pairs with verbs of speaking or reacting (smile, tell, admit, reply, listen). When placed at the front of a sentence as a disjunct (e.g. 'Guilelessly, she…'), it frames the entire statement as sincere rather than modifying just one verb.
常見錯誤
guilelessly — adjective
- guilelesslypositive
- more guilelesslycomparative
- most guilelesslysuperlative
1. having a natural innocence and simple trust in others, without any cunning, susp
having a natural innocence and simple trust in others, without any cunning, suspicion, or hidden motives — often suggesting a person is not skilled at detecting dishonesty in the world around them
Adaeze had a guileless smile that made even strangers feel comfortable opening up to her.
attributive: guileless + noun (smile, expression, manner)
The old fisherman was guileless in his dealings and never asked for more than the fair price.
Dewi's guileless questions about the budget made the committee realise how little they had explained to the staff.
Devika was too guileless to suspect that her friendly neighbour was secretly reading her mail.
In the novel, the guileless young hero trusts everyone he meets and learns about betrayal the hard way.
- innocent
broader term; can mean not guilty of a crime as well as naive
- naive
stresses inexperience and lack of worldly knowledge more than honesty
- artless
suggests naturalness without effort or artifice; slightly literary
- trusting
focuses on readiness to believe others rather than absence of deceit in oneself
文法句型
guileless + noun
be + guileless
用法筆記
Often carries a mildly protective or pitying tone — the guileless person is honest but may be vulnerable to exploitation. Distinguish from sense adverb/1: the adjective describes a person's character; the adverb describes how an action is done.