gullible
adjective
Did you know?
“Let a gull steal my fries once, shame on the gull; let a gull steal my fries twice, shame on me.” So goes the classic, oft-repeated seaside maxim reminding people to guard against being gullible. Okay, that’s not really how the old saw goes, but on the off chance that you believed our little trick, you yourself were, however briefly, gullible—that is, “easily duped.” The adjective gullible grew out of the older verb gull, meaning “to deceive or take advantage of.” (That gull originally meant “to guzzle or gulp greedily,” and comes from an even older gull meaning “throat, gullet.”) Another relative is the noun gull, referring to a person who is easy to cheat. However, no matter how much the seabirds we call gulls love to pilfer our potatoes, that avian gull has no relation, and is instead of Celtic origin—we promise.
Synonyms
Examples of gullible in a Sentence
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 July 2024
The replies, a medley of gullible users and likely bots, are usually full of compliments for the insane image.
—Maura Judkis, Washington Post, 30 June 2024
Online scams that previously targeted gullible netizens have reached a new level, thanks to the introduction of deepfakes and AI.
—Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 25 June 2024
Despite the horror stories and warnings, the examples of fraudsters across the centuries, people are still just as gullible as Poisson.
—thehustle.co, 1 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for gullible 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gullible.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Articles Related to gullible
Words of the Week: April 24, 2016
This week's lookups were driven by a film, a crossword puzzle, and the battle for the Republican nomination
Words of the Week: March 27, 2016
This week’s top lookups were (almost) all driven by U.S. politics
Trending: Gullible
Lookups spike every year on April 1st. The word really is in the dictionary—promise.
Dictionary Entries Near gullible
Cite this Entry
“Gullible.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gullible. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share