disingenuous
dis-in-JEN-yoo-usadjMeaning insincere; pretending to be more innocent or less informed than one is
Memory hook DIS-INGENUOUS: fake innocence. “What cookies?” asks Dev, wide-eyed, with chocolate all over his chin and an empty jar behind him. Pretending to be innocent like that is disingenuous.
It was disingenuous of Dev to ask “What cookies?” with chocolate on his chin.
In context The company’s claim that it had “no idea” its toys were breaking was disingenuous; its own engineers had warned about the problem a year earlier.
Similar insincere, misleading, feigned, hypocritical
Opposite sincere, candid, honest
From dis (not) + ingenuous, “innocent, frank,” from Latin ingenuus, “freeborn, noble.”