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A stock character in opera, theater, and literature. She is a girl or young woman who is endearingly wholesome and innocent. Very similar to the girl next door.

She is generally portrayed as sweet, gentle, virtuous, beautiful, demure, with the wide-eyed innocence of a child and she is very often naive. She is often the victim of the libertine, whom she may have mistaken for the hero. Often she still lives with her parents, owing to her youth and naivete.
She is usually the foil for the dangerously seductive femme fatale.
She is often involved in a romantic subplot, usually with the boy next door and the romance is typically innocent and chaste.
The ingenue is typically played by a lyric soprano in opera and musicals.
The ingenue includes the following characters:

Joanna in Sweeney Todd
Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz
Giselle in Enchanted
Pollyanna
Snow White
Rapunzel
Cosette in Les Miserables
Sandy in Grease
Maria in West Side Story
Christine in Phantom of the Opera
Ophelia in Hamlet
Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
Ariel in The Little Mermaid
Belle in Beauty and the Beast
Penny in Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Mimi in La Boheme
Tatiana in Eugene Onegin
ingenue by Lorelili July 7, 2011
Related Words
A female character in drama or literature. She is a sweet, pretty, if somewhat naive, young woman. To our modern eyes, she's often seen as this meek little mouse.

The ingenue is played by a light soprano in opera or musicals.
Judy Garland's protrayal of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz is the epitome of an ingenue.
ingenue by Lorelili October 29, 2005

ingenudity 

The ability to think of clever reasons to get naked in unusual places. Can be a compliment or an insult.
Make sure to invite Ron to the party he has too much ingenudity to pass up.
ingenudity by Pasquality April 25, 2014

ingenuous 

1. Lacking in cunning, guile, or worldliness; artless. 2. Openly straightforward or frank; candid. See Synonyms at naive. 3. Obsolete Ingenious.
Etymology
Being very dull and stupid, Bob was a very ingenuous man.
ingenuous by Jase P July 21, 2005

ingenuex 

a saucy girl who dances for the world
"MAN I HOPE THAT INGENUEX WILL COME DANCE FOR US...SHE IS soooooOOoooOo FINE"
;)
ingenuex by alicia July 14, 2004

ingénue 

An innocent girl or a young woman.
1. She's quite ingénue to be a Journalist.
2. She's ingénue for her age of girls.
ingénue by Irene17 December 14, 2020
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Northstarring

Finding your way back to the truth by fixing on one verified fact and working out from there, the way you navigate by the North Star when everything around you is spinning.
Rumours were flying everywhere, so she went northstarring — one checked fact at a time.
Northstarring by Light Bearer October 22, 2026
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Plate of Brown 

A plate of brown consists of foods that have little to no nutritional value, and are typically deep fried. A true plate of brown will also be accompanied by a dark soda.
Wanna go to meal hall & grab a plate of brown?
Plate of Brown by Cheddar Craigson September 18, 2020
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Larpenomics

When finance content creators rent out fancy cars and flex cash to seem richer than they really are in order to promote and sell their “get rich quick” courses.
Andrew Tate has mastered the field of larpenomics
Larpenomics by Rbois09 October 21, 2026
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