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INNOCENT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A person who lacks knowledge of evil
Synonyms:
inexperienced person; innocent
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("innocent" is a kind of...):
individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "innocent"):
boy scout (a man who is considered naive)
dear; lamb (a sweet innocent mild-mannered person (especially a child))
naif (a naive or inexperienced person)
virgin (a person who has never had sex)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(used of things) lacking sense or awareness
Example:
fine innocent weather
Classified under:
Similar:
unconscious (not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead)
Domain usage:
archaicism; archaism (the use of an archaic expression)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Completely wanting or lacking
Example:
the sentence was devoid of meaning
Synonyms:
barren; destitute; devoid; free; innocent
Classified under:
Similar:
nonexistent (not having existence or being or actuality)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Lacking intent or capacity to injure
Example:
an innocent prank
Synonyms:
innocent; innocuous
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
harmless (not causing or capable of causing harm)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Not knowledgeable about something specified
Example:
a person unacquainted with our customs
Synonyms:
innocent; unacquainted
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
uninformed (not informed; lacking in knowledge or information)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Free from evil or guilt
Example:
the principle that one is innocent until proved guilty
Synonyms:
clean-handed; guiltless; innocent
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
absolved; clear; cleared; exculpated; exonerated; vindicated (freed from any question of guilt)
acquitted; not guilty (declared not guilty of a specific offense or crime; legally blameless)
blameless; inculpable; irreproachable; unimpeachable (free of guilt; not subject to blame)
Also:
exculpatory (clearing of guilt or blame)
righteous (characterized by or proceeding from accepted standards of morality or justice)
Antonym:
guilty (responsible for or chargeable with a reprehensible act)
Derivation:
innocence (a state or condition of being innocent of a specific crime or offense)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Lacking in sophistication or worldliness
Example:
his ingenuous explanation that he would not have burned the church if he had not thought the bishop was in it
Synonyms:
ingenuous; innocent
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
naif; naive (marked by or showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile or worldly experience)
Derivation:
innocence (the quality of innocent naivete)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Free from sin
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
virtuous (morally excellent)
Derivation:
innocence (the state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil)
Context examples:
“I am as innocent as you are; and I can prove it.”
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Here's this poor old innocent bird o' mine swearing blue fire, and none the wiser, you may lay to that.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Emma could look perfectly unconscious and innocent, and answer in a manner that appropriated nothing.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I did wrong: I would have sullied my innocent flower—breathed guilt on its purity: the Omnipotent snatched it from me.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
But if you are really innocent and ignorant, I must be more explicit.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Dorothy was an innocent, harmless little girl, who had been carried by a cyclone many miles from home; and she had never killed anything in all her life.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
Sometimes she could believe Willoughby to be as unfortunate and as innocent as herself, and at others, lost every consolation in the impossibility of acquitting him.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Pity, too, was aroused, and innocent, idealistic thoughts of reform.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
It did not seem as if the subject of his address were of great importance; indeed, from his pointing, it sometimes appeared as if he were only inquiring his way; but the moon shone on his face as he spoke, and the girl was pleased to watch it, it seemed to breathe such an innocent and old-world kindness of disposition, yet with something high too, as of a well-founded self-content.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Yet to Alleyne had been opened now a side of life of which he had been as innocent as a child, but one which was of such deep import that it could not fail to influence him in choosing his path.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
