innocent
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɪnəsənt/
Forms: form: more innocent
form: most innocent
form: hinnocent
Etymology: From Middle English innocent, from Old French innocent, inocent, borrowed from Latin innocēns (“harmless, inoffensive”), from in- (“not”) + nocēns, present participle of noceō (“to hurt”). By surface analysis, in- (“not”) + nocent (“harmful; guilty”). Displaced native Old English unsċyldiġ.
Senses: examples: text: I'm sure there's an innocent explanation for all this.
text: The situation certainly looked bad, but it turned out that everything was innocent.
text: to offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb to appease an angry god
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], line 16:
text: 2018 September 26, Brian Karem, "Bethesda Resident Describes "Culture Of Privilege" Leading To Exploitation And Abuse" in The Montgomery County Sentinelhttps://web.archive.org/web/20180927140428/https://mont.thesentinel.com/2018/09/26/bethesda-resident-describes-culture-of-privilege-leading-to-sexual-assault/
"These were not innocent times," she said.
glosses: Free from guilt, sin, or immorality.
glosses: Bearing no legal responsibility for a wrongful act.
examples: text: He didn't mean anything by it; it was an innocent mistake.
text: The child's innocent question revealed the embarrassing truth in front of everyone.
glosses: Without wrongful intent; accidental or in good faith.
examples: text: I can find out no rhyme to / 'lady' but 'baby' – an innocent rhyme;
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, scene v], page ii, line 37:
glosses: Naive; artless.
examples: text: The spear / Sung innocent, and spent its force in air.
ref: 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book XXII”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
text: Although an innocent murmur is not an obstacle to participation in sports and exercise, a pathologic murmur may necessitate restrictions on the child's physical activity.
ref: 2006, David J. Driscoll, Fundamentals of Pediatric Cardiology, page 43:
qualifier: obsolete except medicine
glosses: Not harmful; innocuous; harmless; benign.
examples: text: George was not a believer in modern innovations. The Abbey was innocent of anything so up to date as central heating.
ref: 1929, Agatha Christie, chapter 17, in The Seven Dials Mystery:
text: At the beginning of July Stafford station was innocent of buildings, except for a couple of coach bodies to house the staff, but the temporary accommodation to cover the period of building the new station was well on the way to completion.
ref: 1960 September, “Talking of Trains: Progress at Stafford”, in Trains Illustrated, page 522:
text: Her only slight comfort is that they are not as bad as the new litter of Awful children who resulted from this marriage, Lisa, Adam, Jason, and Kristen. By all reports, they are entirely innocent of manners of any kind.
ref: 1983, Judith Martin, Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, page xvii:
glosses: Lacking (something), or knowledge of it.
examples: text: an innocent trade
glosses: Lawful; permitted.
examples: text: innocent goods carried to a belligerent nation
glosses: Not contraband; not subject to forfeiture.
Synonyms: sense: free from blame or guilt
word: sackless
sense: free from blame or guilt
word: guiltless
sense: free from sin
word: pure
sense: free from sin
word: untainted
word: blameless
word: clean
word: clean-handed
word: clean as a hound's tooth
word: clean as a whistle
word: dovelike
word: innocent
word: innocent as the babe unborn
word: innocent as the child unborn
word: irreprehensible
word: offenseless
word: sinless
word: unblameable
word: uncalculating
word: unguilty
Derived terms: innocent agent
innocent as a lamb
innocent as a newborn babe
innocent as the babe unborn
innocent as the child unborn
innocent bystander
innocentness
innocent passage
noninnocent
pseudoinnocent
uninnocent
Related terms: innocence
innocently
innocuous