disingenuous
adjective
dis·in·gen·u·ous
| \ ˌdis-in-ˈjen-yə-wəs
, -yü-əs\
, -yü-əs\
Definition of disingenuous
: lacking in candor
also
: giving a false appearance of simple frankness : calculating
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Examples of disingenuous in a Sentence
"It's had nine murders since 1937—about the same as you would get in many small towns." This was correct, but a wee disingenuous. The AT [Appalachian Trail] had no murders in its first thirty-six years and nine in the past twenty-two.
— Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods, 1999
… and he egged Badger on, asking a disingenuous question about the antivivisection rally in Cleveland, and as Badger took the thought up and chewed it over, the Doctor made as if to excuse himself.
— T. Coraghessan Boyle, The Road to Wellville, 1993
… he has a disingenuous way of resorting to slang when he wants to make a big point but is afraid of sounding pretentious.
— Karen Schoemer, New York Times Book Review, 31 Oct. 1993
Unity is at best an ideal, at worst a disingenuous political slogan.
— Salman Rushdie, The Independent on Sunday, 25 Nov. 1990
Her recent expressions of concern are self-serving and disingenuous.
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Recent Examples on the Web
To target this particular item and call it political when other items that are absolutely political are not being targeted is disingenuous. — Jamie Goldberg, oregonlive.com, "Fans push back against MLS ban on ‘Iron Front’ symbol, political displays," 11 Aug. 2019 Situating these discussions within the context of a mass-shooting, however, is unconstructive and, in Trump’s case, plainly disingenuous. — Simon Parkin, Time, "No, Video Games Don’t Cause Mass Shootings. But The Conversation Shouldn’t End There," 8 Aug. 2019 The explanations Biden offers now for his past positions are similarly disingenuous. — Jason Sokol, BostonGlobe.com, "Boston aside, busing was a success — and it has a future," 5 July 2019 Collina’s comments were at least partly disingenuous; one obvious difference is the goal-line rule, the reviewability of which was not in place last summer for the men’s tournament. — Robert O'connell, The Atlantic, "The World Cup’s Instant-Replay Problem," 5 July 2019 This sounded like two men (and a creative team) who chose to be disingenuous in order to make that happen. — Soraya Roberts, Longreads, "This (Wo)Man’s Work," 19 July 2019 Adam Horowitz, a lawyer who represented seven of the victims, said that Mr. Acosta’s arguments were disingenuous. — Katie Rogers, New York Times, "Acosta Defends His Role in Brokering Jeffrey Epstein Plea Deal," 10 July 2019 Throughout the trial, defense attorneys called up managers to testify that Scott-Allen seemed disingenuous around guests, and therefore wasn't an ideal fit for the French Laundry. — Janelle Bitker, SFChronicle.com, "Jurors begin deliberation in Thomas Keller pregnancy discrimination trial," 25 June 2019 Limiting jury info 'would be a disservice' In court filings, Revolution Fitness calls that argument disingenuous. — Jeanne Houck, Cincinnati.com, "Doug Evans wants to keep fraud case out of trial over property Forest Hills using for bus hub," 17 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'disingenuous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for disingenuous
disingenuous
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of disingenuous
formal
: not truly honest or sincere : giving the false appearance of being honest or sincere
See the full definition for disingenuous in the English Language Learners Dictionary