How to Use naivete in a Sentence

naivete

noun
  • There's a naivete that exists in youth, about the hunger or thirst for life.
    Dalton Ross, EW.com, 13 Oct. 2020
  • To think that it should be done any other way is to betray naivete.
    Andrew Sharp, SI.com, 16 July 2019
  • What bothers Jenkins the most — more than his naivete, more than the lost money — is the guilt.
    Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2022
  • Cline writes in a sleek, cool style that conveys both Alex’s naivete and her mirthless irony.
    Ron Charles, Washington Post, 9 May 2023
  • One ends with loss of naivete, the second ends with loss of innocence, and the third ends with loss of life itself.
    Abbey Maxbauer, refinery29.com, 25 June 2019
  • Her witty lines, lust for LL Cool J, and naivete stuck to your ribs long after your first watch.
    Niki McGloster, refinery29.com, 8 Dec. 2020
  • There’s a naivete to the image, and a charming, handmade quality to it.
    Ashley Lee, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 July 2017
  • Jackson and Rosen also shared the same optimism, or naivete, about what the Knicks might get.
    Mark Heisler, Orange County Register, 28 Jan. 2017
  • Kids of that era somehow managed a certain naivete about the world, even as Vietnam raged and cities burned.
    Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 6 Aug. 2019
  • From the start, Whitehead pushes hard on Elwood’s naivete.
    Ron Charles, Twin Cities, 4 Aug. 2019
  • The court has dismissed the idea of using naivete or being gullible as a defense, KPIX reports.
    CBS News, 1 Sep. 2021
  • The sort of lacking of social etiquette and on so on, but there's a strange naivete about the consequences of his actions.
    Clarissa Cruz, EW.com, 17 June 2022
  • Fear, whether out of ignorance, naivete or paranoia, forms the foundation of the IRS phone call scam.
    David J. Neal, miamiherald, 10 July 2018
  • Now the sadness is that there’s almost a certain naivete in thinking that, in the face of all that Trump represents. . .
    David Weininger, BostonGlobe.com, 6 June 2018
  • The naivete that stems from a mix of inexperience and hubris once again hobbled him here.
    James Hohmann, Washington Post, 25 May 2018
  • All of this is true, and the idealism of it is as inspiring as the naivete of it is disquieting.
    Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2020
  • There’s an awkwardness, a cringe factor, a harrowing naivete that rears up through the text.
    Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2021
  • The may exhibit a certain naivete or roguishness or even the desire to be left alone.
    Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2022
  • All along it was built on a crumbling foundation of lies, deception, and naivete.
    Alex Pappas, Fox News, 30 Apr. 2018
  • Thus, the crucial moment in the film, in which Bäumer is about to pay the ultimate price for his naivete about the war, became one no one could have staged with quite the same effect.
    Will Tizard, Variety, 22 Nov. 2022
  • On the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, the time for innocence or naivete in these matters is long past.
    Melik Kaylan, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2024
  • Teen Vogue spoke with Steve about how nostalgia never goes out of style, getting older, and why naivete is the key to success.
    Sara Radin, Teen Vogue, 19 Apr. 2019
  • Is there a statute of limitations on childhood naivete?
    Tonya Alanez, Sun-Sentinel.com, 29 June 2018
  • Has American naivete helped enable the enemy the U.S. had sought to deter?
    Michael Schuman, The Atlantic, 16 Feb. 2022
  • Is the ask and way it was handled hubris or naivete by decision makers on Montezuma Mesa?
    Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 June 2023
  • The court also dismissed the idea of using naivete or being gullible as a defense, according to a court order.
    Sara Ashley O'Brien, CNN, 30 Aug. 2021
  • In it, Swift sings of regret—over how an ex treated her, and over her own naivete, at 19, in embarking on the relationship.
    Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 2 Nov. 2022
  • These conflict colors present feelings of naivete and wickedness.
    Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 3 June 2021
  • In a sequence that drives home her youthful naivete, the princess-to-be skates through the halls of Buckingham Palace while listening to Duran Duran.
    Meredith Blake Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 15 Nov. 2020
  • Surely, there is a level of naivete among some enlistees no matter the gender.
    Matthew J. Palm, orlandosentinel.com, 17 Sep. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'naivete.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: