gullible
/ˈɡʌlɪbl̩/ adjective, noun
Forms gullibles
- adjective Easily deceived or duped; naive, easily cheated or fooled. “Andrew is so gullible, the way he still believes in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman at the age of fourteen.”
- noun A gullible person; someone easily fooled or tricked.
Synonyms
fleeceable green naif naive credulous born yesterday fresh off the boat wide-eyed
Etymology
Origin uncertain. Either from gull (“to dupe, trick, fool”) + -ible; or alternatively from Middle English gole, goll, gol (“an unfledged bird, silly fellow”), perhaps from Old Norse gulr (“yellow, pale”), from the hue of its down.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gullible”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details