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innocent

adj
/ˈɪnəsənt/

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”). Displaced native Old English unsċyldiġ.

  1. derived from innocēns
  2. derived from innocent
  3. inherited from innocent

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.
    • to offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb to appease an angry god

  2. Bearing no legal responsibility for a wrongful act.

  3. Without wrongful intent

    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. ›+ 8 more definitions

    1. Naive

      Naive; artless.

      • I can find out no rhyme to / 'lady' but 'baby' – an innocent rhyme;

    2. Not harmful

      Not harmful; innocuous; harmless; benign.

      • The spear / Sung innocent, and spent its force in air.
      • Although an innocent murmur is not an obstacle to participation in sports and exercise, a pathologic murmur may necessitate restrictions on the child's physical activity.

    3. Lacking (something), or knowledge of it.

      • George was not a believer in modern innovations. The Abbey was innocent of anything so up to date as central heating.
      • At the beginning of July Stafford station was innocent of buildings, except for a couple of coach bodies to house the staff, but the temporary accommodation to cover the period of building the new station was well on the way to completion.
      • Her only slight comfort is that they are not as bad as the new litter of Awful children who resulted from this marriage, Lisa, Adam, Jason, and Kristen. By all reports, they are entirely innocent of manners of any kind.

    4. Lawful

      Lawful; permitted.

      • an innocent trade

    5. Not contraband

      Not contraband; not subject to forfeiture.

      • innocent goods carried to a belligerent nation

    6. 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.

    7. A harmless simple-minded person

      A harmless simple-minded person; an idiot.

    8. A surname.

The neighborhood

Derived

innocent agent, innocent as a lamb, innocent as a newborn babe, innocent as the babe unborn, innocent as the child unborn, innocent bystander, innocentness, innocent passage, noninnocent, pseudoinnocent, uninnocent

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at innocent. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01innocent02sin03iniquity04unfairness05justice06judgment07justly08fair

A definitional loop anchored at innocent. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at innocent

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA