taking at face value
Accepting without skepticism
Taking at face value means accepting something as it appears without questioning or looking for hidden meaning.
If you take a statement at face value, you assume it's sincere and accurate: I took his apology at face value, though others suspected he was just covering himself.
The phrase often implies a choice not to dig deeper—whether from trust, naivety, or pragmatism.
- assumptionUnverified belief accepted as true
- gullibilityEase of being deceived
- beliefTrust held as true
- blind trustComplete unquestioning confidence
- trustConfidence in another
perception · honesty · naivety · skepticism · credulity · benefit of the doubt · interpretation · impression management · doubt · read between lines · communication · judgment · credibility · persuasion · bias · heuristics · misunderstanding · too good to be true
taking at face valuequestioning
Seeking answers through inquiry
doubting · scrutinizing · challenging · distrusting · second-guessing
taking at face valuereading between the lines
unpacking · deconstructing · reading into · probing · dissecting
taking, takers, facing, facial, facially, value, values, valued, valuing