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
-
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
-
innocents
plural
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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
-
quasi-innocentlyadverb
-
superinnocentlyadverb
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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:
“I was losing childhood’s innocent credulity,” he writes, “and beginning to realize that adults had weaknesses too.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis told the BBC the innocent traders had been the victims of a series of miscarriages of justice.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
For White, who opened an account on the platform during high school, "it seemed innocent enough, I guess, at the time."
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
But if the questions were innocent, the agents weren’t always so benign.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 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
Intricate sculptural groups depict the Annunciation, the birth of Jesus, the Adoration of the Magi and the shepherds, Herod’s massacre of the innocents, the flight into Egypt, Jesus preaching at the temple, and more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
"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
But it’s a good thing the innocents already felled one devil, despite Kelce’s overwhelming sweetness.
From Salon ● Jan. 15, 2026
It also asked police to stop harassing innocents.
From BBC ● May 28, 2025
If this were true, then wars were not calamities into which amiable innocents were led by evil men.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
