innocent
//ˈɪnəsənt//
Forms
- Comparative
- more innocent
- Superlative
- most innocent
- Plural
- innocents
Definitions
1.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.
2.Bearing no legal responsibility for a wrongful act.
3.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.
4.Naive; artless.
1.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.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2585
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Antonyms
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”).