guilelessness
Complete lack of cunning
Guilelessness is the quality of being free from cunning or deception—an openness that lacks hidden motives.
It suggests innocence or naïveté, someone incapable of scheming: Her guilelessness made her an easy target for con artists.
The word can carry admiration for transparency or imply vulnerability to manipulation.
Innocent lack of experience
- artlessnessSincere, unfeigned manner
- ingenuousnessInnocent frankness, without cunning
- childlikenessQuality of youthful naivety
- simplicityLack of complexity
unworldliness · unsophistication · trustfulness · openheartedness · credulousness · unaffectedness · wholesomeness · naturalness
Honest, unfeigned genuineness
- candorUnguarded truthfulness
- truthfulnessHabit of not lying
- franknessDirect, unguarded honesty
- directnessQuality of being straightforward
forthrightness · openness · straightforwardness · transparency · authenticity · genuineness · plainspokenness · bluntness
Moral soundness and consistency
- uprightnessMoral correctness and honesty
- incorruptibilityImmunity to moral compromise
- probityThorough moral honesty
- rectitudeMoral straightness
nobility · honor · trustworthiness · decency · righteousness · virtuousness · irreproachability
naivete
Innocent lack of experience
- artlessnessSincere, unfeigned manner
- ingenuousnessInnocent frankness, without cunning
- childlikenessQuality of youthful naivety
simplicity · unworldliness · unsophistication · trustfulness · openheartedness · credulousness · unaffectedness · wholesomeness · naturalness · purity
sincerity
Honest, unfeigned genuineness
- candorUnguarded truthfulness
- truthfulnessHabit of not lying
- franknessDirect, unguarded honesty
directness · forthrightness · openness · straightforwardness · transparency · authenticity · genuineness · plainspokenness · bluntness · outspokenness
integrity
Moral soundness and consistency
- uprightnessMoral correctness and honesty
- incorruptibilityImmunity to moral compromise
- probityThorough moral honesty
rectitude · nobility · honor · trustworthiness · decency · righteousness · virtuousness · irreproachability
- candorfrankness, directness, bluntness, candor, straightforwardness
- Character Virtueshonesty, sincerity, authenticity, genuineness, candor
- honestyhonesty, truthfulness, candor, sincerity, dishonesty
- innocenceinnocent, innocence, purity, pure, blameless
- sinceritysincerity, sincere, genuine, genuineness, honesty
- naivetenaivety, naive, innocence, gullible, gullibility
guilelessnessguile
Sly, strategic dishonesty
craftiness · cunning · deceitfulness · duplicity · deviousness
guilelessnessshrewdness
Keen practical judgment
calculation · canniness · worldliness · street smarts · wiliness
disguise, guile, beguile, guileless, beguiling, guileful, beguiled, beguiler, beguilement