| English Dictionary |
INNOCENT
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| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does innocent mean?
• INNOCENT (noun)
The noun INNOCENT has 1 sense:
1. a person who lacks knowledge of evil
Familiarity information: INNOCENT used as a noun is very rare.
• INNOCENT (adjective)
The adjective INNOCENT has 7 senses:
1. free from evil or guilt
2. lacking intent or capacity to injure
3. free from sin
4. lacking in sophistication or worldliness
5. not knowledgeable about something specified
6. completely wanting or lacking
7. (used of things) lacking sense or awareness
Familiarity information: INNOCENT used as an adjective is common.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A person who lacks knowledge of evil
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
inexperienced person; innocent
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)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Free from evil or guilt
Synonyms:
clean-handed; guiltless; innocent
Context example:
the principle that one is innocent until proved guilty
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 2
Meaning:
Lacking intent or capacity to injure
Synonyms:
innocent; innocuous
Context example:
an innocent prank
Similar:
harmless (not causing or capable of causing harm)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Free from sin
Synonyms:
Similar:
virtuous (morally excellent)
Derivation:
innocence (the state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Lacking in sophistication or worldliness
Synonyms:
ingenuous; innocent
Context example:
his ingenuous explanation that he would not have burned the church if he had not thought the bishop was in it
Similar:
naif; naive (marked by or showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile or worldly experience)
Derivation:
innocence (the quality of innocent naivete)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Not knowledgeable about something specified
Synonyms:
innocent; unacquainted
Context example:
a person unacquainted with our customs
Similar:
uninformed (not informed; lacking in knowledge or information)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Completely wanting or lacking
Synonyms:
barren; destitute; devoid; free; innocent
Context example:
the sentence was devoid of meaning
Similar:
nonexistent (not having existence or being or actuality)
Sense 7
Meaning:
(used of things) lacking sense or awareness
Context example:
fine innocent weather
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)
Context examples
This was a strange tale, but it did not shake my faith; and I replied earnestly, “You are all mistaken; I know the murderer. Justine, poor, good Justine, is innocent.”
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
“You are innocent of any part in it, we thoroughly believe,—we know.”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
The innocent little peasant was unanimously sentenced to death, and was to be rolled into the water, in a barrel pierced full of holes.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
He was innocent of the crime for which he was sentenced.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Do you not yourself think that he is innocent?
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I am here obliged to vindicate the reputation of an excellent lady, who was an innocent sufferer upon my account.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
You have saved an innocent man’s life, and you have prevented a very grave scandal, which would have ruined my reputation in the Force.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
You can take my word that she is innocent.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
"You precocious chick! Who put that into your head?" said Jo, enjoying the innocent revelation as much as the Professor.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
But as to murder, I am as innocent as you.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"There are many good moccasin tracks along the trail of a straight arrow." (Native American proverb, Sioux)
"The ant shall never crawl on its knees." (Arabic proverb)
"Keep throwing eggs on the wall." (Cypriot proverb)