as in naive
lacking in worldly wisdom or informed judgment
his persona may be that of an aw-shucks country singer, but offstage he is anything but
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Recent Examples of aw-shucks
How Maye and his aw-shucks demeanor became a big-play bully in leading one of the game’s most prolific offenses.
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Chad Graff, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
But there was always more to Aydın than his aw-shucks dimples.
—Moisés Naím, Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025
Viewers who know him only as the New Age-y inspirational author Ricken Hale on Severance will be suitably creeped out by how effectively Chernus slides from an aw-shucks, salt-of-the-earth type to an assessing predator manipulating his victims into a sense of safety.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2025
The aw-shucks routine appeared carefully calibrated to reinforce his core message, framing Republicans as the reasonable stewards of government being thwarted by extremist Democrats.
—Bloomberg News, Boston Herald, 4 Oct. 2025
Played by the versatile Domhnall Gleeson, in a performance that couldn’t be more different from his memorably unnerving turns in The Patient and Black Mirror, incoming Truth-Teller editor-in-chief Ned Sampson has a sort of aw-shucks, pre-Ozark-Jason-Bateman vibe.
—Judy Berman, Time, 3 Sep. 2025
Monologuing for an hour and a half is no walk in the park, but the genial A-lister tackles the task at hand with aw-shucks charisma and confidence.
—Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 13 June 2025
Almost immediately, Carrie made the character her own, bringing in a sort of aw-shucks Midwestern sweetness.
—Michelle King, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for aw-shucks
Adjective
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Russia is a tyranny, which makes some of us feel naive.—
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Some biologists believe that as much as 25 percent of the diet of some coyote packs in LA in the naive 1980s was human food.—
Adjective
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Demonstrators argued that taxpayer money should not be used to harm or kill innocent people and rejected claims that the killing of Good was an act of self-defense.—
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Multiple innocent lives lost due to violence.—
Adjective
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This simple taupe geometric style peel-and-stick wallpaper is affordable, easy to apply, and looks gorgeous without being too bold or loud.—
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The simple addition of zipper detailing adds a preppy energy to the top.—
Cite this Entry
“Aw-shucks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/aw-shucks. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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