innocence

[in-uh-suhns]

noun

1. the quality or state of being innocent; freedom from sin or moral wrong.

2. freedom from legal or specific wrong; guiltlessness.

   The prisoner proved his innocence.

3. simplicity; absence of guile or cunning; naiveté.

4. lack of knowledge or understanding.

5. harmlessness; innocuousness.

6. chastity.

7. an innocent person or thing.

8. bluet.

9. blue-eyed Mary.

innocence

/ ˈɪnəsəns /

noun

1. Archaic word: innocency. the quality or state of being innocent

Other Word Forms

• superinnocence noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of innocence¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English word from Latin word innocentia. See innocent, -ence

Word History and Origins

Origin of innocence¹

C14: from Latin innocentia harmlessness, from innocēns doing no harm, blameless, from _in- ¹ + nocēns harming, from nocēre to hurt, harm; see _noxious

Example Sentences

"No matter what we do, nothing will rebuild what's inside us. My children aren't my children anymore. There's more suffering than innocence in their eyes now."

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"You're captured on the Ring doorbell leaving and you return without the car," the officer told him while he pleaded innocence in his living room.

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The lack of self-control was unforgivable, the look of confused innocence on his face in the aftermath a complete nonsense.

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The tycoon, who faces several long-running criminal cases in Moldova, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has vowed to prove his innocence.

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In her Bay Area innocence, Bohnett had rather casually taken one Southern California beach town to be indistinguishable from another.

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