disingenuous
/ˌdɪsɪnˈdʒɛnjʊəs
/adjective
Not candid or sincere, typically by pretending that one knows less about something than one really does: this journalist was being somewhat disingenuous as well as cynical...
- Pete's selection for the show is nothing but cheap entertainment, and it is disingenuous to pretend otherwise.
- It is disingenuous to pretend that any other analysis is tenable.
- Yet it is disingenuous to pretend that there is not a question of individual liberty at stake here.
Synonyms
dishonest, deceitful, underhand, underhanded, duplicitous, double-dealing, two-faced, dissembling, insincere, false, lying, untruthful, mendacious;
not candid, not frank, not entirely truthful;
artful, cunning, crafty, wily, sly, sneaky, tricky, scheming, calculating, designing, devious, unscrupulous
informal shifty, foxy
humorous economical with the truth, terminologically inexact
archaic subtle, hollow-hearted
rare false-hearted, double-faced, truthless, unveracious
Derivatives
disingenuity
- But it's awash with half-truths and disingenuity.
- And I think there's a disingenuity in sending it out.
- There's another factor at work here, a kind of commercial disingenuity that aims to befuddle the listener on his own ground.
disingenuously
/ adverb ...- She disingenuously refers to them as ex-felons, which is incorrect since the law holds that once someone is a felon, he remains one.
- ‘Well I can clear that one up for you - no, he definitely isn't,’ I replied disingenuously, but she didn't seem convinced.
- There are places in this country whose media outlets are disingenuously labeled with different names but owned by one corporation thousands of miles away.
disingenuousness
/ noun ...- This sort of talk immediately opens itself up to the accusation of disingenuousness and hypocrisy.
- The play's title is too literal a description of its subject matter, and that lack of theatrical imagination shows up in the general emotional disingenuousness of the piece.
- In that sense, the administration's appeals to free expression and dialogue were the purest disingenuousness.