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DISINGENUOUS
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Dictionary entry overview: What does disingenuous mean?
• DISINGENUOUS (adjective)
The adjective DISINGENUOUS has 1 sense:
1. not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness
Familiarity information: DISINGENUOUS used as an adjective is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness
Synonyms:
artful; disingenuous
Context example:
a disingenuous excuse
Similar:
distorted; misrepresented; perverted; twisted (having an intended meaning altered or misrepresented)
Also:
insincere (lacking sincerity)
Antonym:
ingenuous (characterized by an inability to mask your feelings; not devious)
Derivation:
disingenuousness (the quality of being disingenuous and lacking candor)
Context examples
Mr Elliot is evidently a disingenuous, artificial, worldly man, who has never had any better principle to guide him than selfishness.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
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