babe in the woods

Idioms and Phrases

An innocent or very naive person who is apt to be duped or victimized, as in She was a babe in the woods where the stock market was concerned . The term originated in a popular ballad of 1595, “The Children in the Wood,” about two young orphans who are abandoned in a forest and die.

Example Sentences

When Harriet stands before the white men of the Los Angeles City Council to argue her case, “Aja does this thing with her voice, it’s kind of high and a little vulnerable, and she’s so sweet, she seems like a babe in the woods, but she is a stone-cold killer,” Eisenberg says.

From Los Angeles Times

DeSantis is not an innocent babe in the woods who just stumbled into a bee's hive full of young fascists who happen to work for him.

From Salon

And Angel Lin’s assured and anchoring performance toes a delicate line, presenting Maya as neither a babe in the woods nor a wunderkind fully prepared for the magnitude of her mission.

From New York Times

They invite this babe in the woods into their tight-nit criminal gang.

From New York Times

In his book, Always Red. which is published next month, Mr McCluskey questions whether the current Labour leader is a "babe in the woods" or "altogether more calculating".

From BBC