innocent

 
Pronunciation: /ˈɪnəs(ə)nt/

adjective

  • 1not guilty of a crime or offence: the prisoners were later found innocent he is innocent of Sir Thomas’s death
  • (innocent of) without experience or knowledge of: a man innocent of war’s cruelties
  • (innocent of) without; lacking: a street quite innocent of bookshops
  • 2 [attributive] not responsible for or directly involved in an event yet suffering its consequences: an innocent bystander
  • 3free from moral wrong; not corrupted: an innocent child
  • simple; naive: she is a poor, innocent young creature
  • 4not involving or intended to cause harm or offence; harmless: an innocent mistake

noun

  • 1a pure, guileless, or naive person: a young innocent abroad
  • 2a person involved by chance in a situation, especially a victim of crime or war: they are prepared to kill or maim innocents in pursuit of a cause
  • (the Innocents) the young children killed by Herod after the birth of Jesus (Matt. 2:16).

Derivatives

innocently

adverb

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French, or from Latin innocent- 'not harming', from in- 'not' + nocere 'to hurt'

Spelling help

Remember that innocent is spelled with a double n; the ending is -ent.