What does "innocent" mean?

1. (not guilty of a crime) not guilty of a particular crime or bad action. 2. (not harmful) not intended to cause harm or upset, even if it does. 3. (naive or inexperienced) having little experience of the world and trusting people too easily. 4. (a person who is not guilty) a person, especially a child, who has no experience of bad things or has done nothing wrong.

How do you use "innocent"?

Often used with the preposition 'of'.

innocent

adj. · n.

US //ˈɪnəsənt// UK //ˈɪnəsənt// in·no·cent

1 not guilty of a crime (adj.)
B1 Intermediate Law

not guilty of a particular crime or bad action.

bearing no legal or moral responsibility for a specific wrongful act.

Example

The jury found the man innocent after seeing the new evidence.

Example

The defendant was declared innocent of all charges after DNA evidence conclusively proved he was not at the scene of the crime.

Usage

Often used with the preposition 'of'.
- blameless
- guiltless
- guilty
- culpable
2 not harmful (adj.)
B2 Upper Intermediate

not intended to cause harm or upset, even if it does.

lacking harmful intent or malicious motive; innocuous in nature.

Example

It was an innocent mistake, and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

Example

What began as an innocent remark about the weather was unfortunately misinterpreted as a sarcastic critique of the host's garden.
- harmless
- innocuous
- malicious
- harmful

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3 naive or inexperienced (adj.)
B2 Upper Intermediate

having little experience of the world and trusting people too easily.

lacking worldly experience, sophistication, or knowledge of evil.

Example

She was young and innocent, believing everything she read online.

Example

His innocent perspective on international politics was often dismissed by his more cynical and experienced colleagues.
- naive
- artless
- simple
4 a person who is not guilty (n.)
C1 Advanced Formal

a person, especially a child, who has no experience of bad things or has done nothing wrong.

an individual who is free from guilt or sin, frequently used in the plural to refer to victims of war or disaster.

Example

The war caused the deaths of many thousands of blameless innocents.

Example

The documentary highlights the tragic plight of the innocents caught in the crossfire of the regional conflict.
- babe

Origin

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.