Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Innocent; naive.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having eyes with a moist, glistening appearance, especially as indicating that one is on the verge of crying or that one is experiencing strong emotions.
  • adjective figuratively Naive or innocent in the manner of a child.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective exhibiting childlike simplicity and credulity

Etymologies

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Examples

  • By this time, the dewy-eyed idealists had long since fled the CPUSA, a wholly owned Soviet subsidiary.

    Deconstructing Obama Jack Cashill 2011

  • They were fine for dewy-eyed kids and paunchy, middle-aged liberals to whom his biography was a lure and not a problem.

    O: A Presidential Novel Anonymous 2011

  • They were fine for dewy-eyed kids and paunchy, middle-aged liberals to whom his biography was a lure and not a problem.

    O: A Presidential Novel Anonymous 2011

  • In traveling to the homes of famous writers, he wanted to re-create, if not re-enact, the rather breathless and dewy-eyed excursions of Victorian tourists through the English countryside.

    Modern Reliquaries Eric Ormsby 2012

  • He has the entire arsenal of film-making at his disposal, but can't seem to snap out of a now-habitual mode of vitality-erasing, dewy-eyed affectation.

    War Horse – review 2011

  • By this time, the dewy-eyed idealists had long since fled the CPUSA, a wholly owned Soviet subsidiary.

    Deconstructing Obama Jack Cashill 2011

  • Both King and Snyder eschew the vampire as dashing sophisticate or dewy-eyed romantic ( "King hates 'Twilight' more than I do," Snyder notes).

    The 'Riffs Interview: 'American Vampire's' SCOTT SNYDER on vampires, Vertigo & collaborator Stephen King Michael Cavna 2010

  • No wonder that in the movies he is inevitably played by gleaming, dewy-eyed hunks like Henry Fonda, James Garner, Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner—he's the Platonic ideal of virtuous beefcake.

    New Tales of the Old West Lee Sandlin 2011

  • Their story was the basis for a recent straight-to-DVD ditty, called "Little Ashes," staring Robert Pattinson, who took time off from his "Twilight" duties to play a dewy-eyed, leaden-lipped Salvador Dal í.

    In Madrid, the Party Goes On, Austero Style J. S. Marcus 2010

  • Kinard, a Casey Affleck lookalike, provides an unsettling mixture of dewy-eyed sincerity and barely concealed insanity – he both attracts with his charm but repels with his odd demands, creating a wonderfully enigmatic personality.

    Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies - Film Threat 2009

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