innocent
Americanadjective
-
free from moral wrong; without sin; pure.
innocent children.
- Synonyms:
- immaculate, spotless, impeccable, faultless, virtuous, sinless
- Antonyms:
- guilty
-
free from legal or specific wrong; guiltless.
innocent of the crime.
- Antonyms:
- guilty
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not involving evil intent or motive.
an innocent misrepresentation.
-
not causing physical or moral injury; harmless.
innocent fun.
-
devoid (usually followed byof ).
a law innocent of merit.
-
having or showing the simplicity or naiveté of an unworldly person; guileless; ingenuous.
- Synonyms:
- artless, unsophisticated, naive, simple
-
uninformed or unaware; ignorant.
noun
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an innocent person.
-
a young child.
-
a guileless person.
-
a simpleton or idiot.
-
(used with a singular verb) Usually innocents. bluet.
adjective
-
not corrupted or tainted with evil or unpleasant emotion; sinless; pure
-
not guilty of a particular crime; blameless
-
free (of); lacking
innocent of all knowledge of history
-
-
harmless or innocuous
an innocent game
-
not cancerous
an innocent tumour
-
-
credulous, naive, or artless
-
simple-minded; slow-witted
noun
-
an innocent person, esp a young child or an ingenuous adult
-
a simple-minded person; simpleton
Synonym Usage
Innocent, blameless, guiltless imply freedom from the responsibility of having done wrong. Innocent may imply having done no wrong at any time, and having not even a knowledge of evil: an innocent victim. Blameless denotes freedom from blame, especially moral blame: a blameless life. Guiltless denotes freedom from guilt or responsibility for wrongdoing, usually in a particular instance: guiltless of a crime.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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quasi-innocentadjective
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superinnocentadjective
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uninnocentadjective
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innocentlyadverb
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quasi-innocentlyadverb
-
superinnocentlyadverb
-
uninnocentlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of innocent
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English, from Latin innocent- (stem of innocēns ) “harmless,” equivalent to in- in- 3 + nocēns present participle of nocēre “to harm”; see -ent; cf. noxious
Explanation
You may think your fluffy white cat is just an innocent, or harmless, little kitty, but she shows no mercy when attacking that toy mouse. Innocent is an adjective that describes someone or something that is not harmful or at least doesn’t cause harm on purpose. It can also be used when talking about a person who did not commit a crime. “Innocent until proven guilty” is a phrase that means people who have been accused of a crime should be considered innocent, or free of blame, unless a judge or jury decides that they are officially guilty.
Vocabulary lists containing innocent
Anti-Antonyms: Words Without Opposites
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"The Scholarship Jacket" by Marta Salinas
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Bethany been convicted of murdering her mother but claims she is innocent, has psychic powers and can predict the future.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
And that’s just at that young age where you are so innocent, it’s all just looking at each other and feeling each other’s presence and falling in love without the complications of a relationship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
It also happened to staff at energy trading company Enron, which, in the comparatively innocent days of 2002, was briefly the world’s biggest and most spectacular bankruptcy.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
Eastern time to “continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Farmer seemed to care less about the notion that someone should be considered innocent until proven guilty than about preserving a thin-edged calm in a jittery country.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
"This land has paid a heavy price. It has seen many of its children buried. It has borne witness to the suffering of children and innocents," added the leader of the world's Roman Catholics.
From Barron's ● May 23, 2026
On the one hand, continued pressure harms innocents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
It also asked police to stop harassing innocents.
From BBC ● May 28, 2025
“Hersh was among the innocents brutally attacked while attending a music festival for peace in Israel,” Biden said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2024
They have been called an army of innocents.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
