innocent
Syllables: in·no·cent/ˈɪnəsənt/
innocent adjective: free from guilt, sin, or immorality.
Adjective
innocent (comparative more innocent, superlative most innocent)
- Free from guilt, sin, or immorality.
- I'm sure there's an innocent explanation for all this.
- The situation certainly looked bad, but it turned out that everything was innocent.
- Bearing no legal responsibility for a wrongful act.
- Without wrongful intent; accidental or in good faith.
- He didn't mean anything by it; it was an innocent mistake.
- The child's innocent question revealed the embarrassing truth in front of everyone.
- Naive; artless.
- I can find out no rhyme to / 'lady' but 'baby' – an innocent rhyme;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...
- Not harmful; innocuous; harmless; benign.
- The spear / Sung innocent, and spent its force in air.1715–1720, Homer, “Book XXII”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC
- 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.2006, David J. Driscoll, Fundamentals of Pediatric Cardiology, page 43
- Lacking (something), or knowledge of it.
- George was not a believer in modern innovations. The Abbey was innocent of anything so up to date as central heating.1929, Agatha Christie, chapter 17, in The Seven Dials Mystery
- 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.1960 September, “Talking of Trains: Progress at Stafford”, in Trains Illustrated, page 522
- Lawful; permitted.
- an innocent trade
- Not contraband; not subject to forfeiture.
- innocent goods carried to a belligerent nation
Noun
innocent (plural innocents)
- One who is innocent, especially a young child.
- The slaughter of the innocents was a significant event in the New Testament.
- We were asked to strike that impossible balance between being innocents and whores.1991 February 11, Jennifer Justice, “Farewell Lavender Hearts”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 29, page 9
- A harmless simple-minded person; an idiot.
Proper noun capitalized: Innocent
Innocent (plural Innocents)
- A surname.
innocent meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
innocent in Hindi
- pure, free from sin, untainted
- निर्दोष nirdoṣ
- not legally responsible for a wrongful act
- मासूम māsūm, निर्दोष nirdoṣ
innocent in Tamil
- குற்றமில்லாத, மாசற்ற, அப்பாவியான, களங்கமில்லாத, கள்ளங்கபடமற்ற, வெள்ளந்தி
innocent in Marathi
- pure, free from sin, untainted
- निर्दोष nirdoṣ
innocent in Urdu
- pure, free from sin, untainted
- نردوش nirdoś
- not legally responsible for a wrongful act
- معصوم māsūm
More languagesFewer languages
- innocent in Bengali
- নির্দোষ nirdōś, মাসুম maśum
- innocent in Telugu
- నిర్దోషి nirdōṣi
- innocent in Malayalam
- നിർദ്ദോഷിയായ, നിരുപദ്രവിയായ, നിഷ്കളങ്കമായ, നിരപരാധിയായ
- innocent in Kannada
- ಮುಗ್ಧ mugdha
- innocent in Punjabi
- ਨਿਰਦੋਸ਼, ਬੇਗੁਨਾਹੀ
- innocent in Gujarati
- સીધું sīdhũ
- innocent in Odia
- ଭଲ bhala
- innocent in Sanskrit
- निर्दोष nirdoṣa
- innocent in Nepali
- निर्दोष
- innocent in Tagalog
- walang-sala
- innocent in Arabic
- بَرِيء barīʔ, بَرِيئَة barīʔa
- innocent in Persian
- بیگناه bigonâh
- innocent in Thai
- บริสุทธิ์ bɔɔ-rí-sùt
- innocent in Vietnamese
- trong sạch, vô tội
Examples of innocent in a sentence
- to offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb to appease an angry godc. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […]...
- By all reports, they are entirely innocent of manners of any kind.1983, Judith Martin, Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, page xvii:
Synonyms of innocent
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- verdant
- clueless
- credulous
- dewy-eyed
- cute
- fleeceable
- foppotee
- green
- guileless
- jejune
- Panglossian
- Panglossic
- quaint
- simple
- simple-hearted
- simple-minded
- starry-eyed
- unaffected
- undesigning
- unpretentious
- unsophisticated
- untested
- wide-eyed
- immature
- born yesterday
- wet behind the ears
- virgin
- clean
- clean-handed
- clean as a hound's tooth
Antonyms
Forms of innocent
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more innocent |
| superlative | most innocent |
| alternative form | hinnocent |
| Noun | |
| plural | innocents |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Innocents |
Origin of innocent
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.
Words formed from innocent
Phrases with innocent
Questions about innocent
- What does innocent mean?
- Innocent means free from guilt, sin, or immorality.
- What is innocent in Hindi?
- Innocent in Hindi is निर्दोष (nirdoṣ), मासूम (māsūm). See Innocent meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use innocent in a sentence?
- to offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb to appease an angry god
- What part of speech is innocent?
- Innocent can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce innocent?
- Innocent is pronounced /ˈɪnəsənt/.
Words near innocent in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: innocent (page history and authors); Innocent (page history and authors); innocent (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); innocent (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಮುಗ್ಧ (Kannada) (page history and authors); innocent (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); સીધું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଭଲ (Odia) (page history and authors); innocent (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “innocent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/innocent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.