guileless
GYLE-liss
/ˈɡaɪlləs/
Devoid of guile; innocent, naive, and free from deceit or cunning.
Implies an endearing, child-like naturalness and lack of subtle artifice or trickery.
The story behind the word. The word 'guile' came into English via Old French, connected to the Frankish word for trickery or sorcery (related to 'wile'). Adding the Germanic suffix '-less' yields a literal meaning of 'without tricks'. It reflects a person who possesses no mental machinery for deception.
Word relationships
- artless: Artless stresses natural simplicity without conscious effort, while guileless stresses the complete absence of deceit.
- ingenuous: Ingenuous highlights innocent frankness, sometimes implying a lack of worldly wisdom.
- guileful: Guileful means crafty, cunning, and full of deceit.
- scheming: Scheming implies actively planning underhanded or secret plots.
Commonly confused with
- gullible: Gullible means easily tricked or persuaded, whereas guileless means incapable of tricking others.
Word family
- guilelessness (noun): Innocence and freedom from deceit.
- guilelessly (adverb): In an innocent and deceitless manner.
- guile (noun): Sly or cunning intelligence used to deceive.
Collocations
- guileless charm
- guileless smile
- guileless nature
- guileless enthusiasm
Idioms & expressions
- without a deceitful bone in one's body
Example sentences
- "The child looked up with guileless eyes, completely unaware of the political turmoil around him." Novel description
- "Her guileless reaction to the surprise party made everyone smile." Character study
Memory hook
Guile sounds like 'guise' (a mask). A guileless person wears no mask. Without tricks or mask.
When not to use
Do not use to describe a calculated strategy or a professional business protocol.
Fun facts
- Guile and wile come from the exact same Proto-Germanic root, splitting into French (guile) and English (wile) before reunited in Modern English.
Explore more words
Also appears in
Take your vocabulary further with LangBlitz
Our English vocabulary app: FSRS spaced repetition, 5,000+ curated words across 119 topic groups, CEFR A1 to C2. Explore your mastery with the beautiful Vocabulary World feature.