innocuous
Americanadjective
-
not harmful or injurious; harmless.
an innocuous home remedy.
-
not likely to irritate or offend; inoffensive; an innocuous remark.
-
not interesting, stimulating, or significant; pallid; insipid.
an innocuous novel.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of innocuous
From the Latin word innocuus, dating back to 1590–1600. See in- 3, nocuous
Explanation
Something that's innocuous isn't harmful or likely to cause injury. Public figures like mayors and governors have to expect they'll get critical or even hurtful emails and phone calls, as well as more innocuous feedback. The adjective innocuous is useful when you're talking about something that doesn't offend or injure anyone. Innocuous remarks or comments are meant kindly, and innocuous germs won't make you sick. An innocuous question is innocently curious, rather than aimed to hurt someone's feelings. The word comes from the Latin roots in-, "not," and nocere, "to injure or harm."
Vocabulary lists containing innocuous
Anti-Antonyms: Words Without Opposites
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Negatives with "in"
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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.
Innocuous, everyday, unremarkable to billions around the world.
From BBC • May 25, 2024
It gives concrete meaning, at a much wider scale, to years of privacy concerns: Innocuous personal data it holds is now evidence.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 8, 2022
Let me introduce the harm-based dyadic loop, described in a 2016 paper by Chelsea Schein and Kurt Gray, "Moralization and Harmification: The Dyadic Loop Explains How the Innocuous Becomes Harmful and Wrong."
From Salon • Oct. 28, 2018
Innocuous tree moss lifted the curtain, squarely putting higher levels of carcinogens in some Portlanders’ backyards: Arsenic was detected in Gov. Kate Brown’s Portland neighborhood.
From Washington Times • Feb. 12, 2016
Innocuous as it seemed, it was part of a procedure which had become refined almost to an unvarying ritual—a ritual of beautiful and terrible precision which never failed to achieve its goals.
From Oneness by Summers, Leo
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.
