- Today's Word
Guileless
GAHYL-liss
Definition
(adjective) Innocent and without deception.
Example
Her guileless smile disarmed even the harshest critics.
Fun Fact
The word guileless flips the meaning of guile, which refers to cunning or deceit. While guile can imply clever manipulation, being guileless is about honesty—sometimes to a fault. In literature and psychology, guileless individuals are often seen as pure-hearted or naive, and their openness can leave them vulnerable to exploitation. But it also makes them deeply trustworthy.
(verb) To use vague or ambiguous language in order to avoid committing to a clear position or answer.
When asked directly whether he had approved the deal, the CEO equivocated for ten minutes without ever giving a straight answer.
Equivocate derives from the Medieval Latin aequivocare, meaning “to call by the same name,” built from aequus (“equal”) and vox (“voice” or “word”). The idea behind the root is of a word that sounds the same but carries two equally valid meanings — giving the speaker plausible deniability by exploiting ambiguity. It entered English in the 16th century, almost immediately acquiring its negative connotation of deliberate evasiveness.