innocuous

in·noc·u·ous

adj \i-ˈnä-kyə-wəs\

Definition of INNOCUOUS

1

: producing no injury : harmless

2

: not likely to give offense or to arouse strong feelings or hostility : inoffensive, insipid

— in·noc·u·ous·ly adverb

— in·noc·u·ous·ness noun

Examples of INNOCUOUS

1. He told a few innocuous jokes.
2. <those innocuous lies we must tell every day if society is to remain civil>
3. Gossip is a relatively innocuous manifestation; fashioning one's self as eternally battling a white America mired in “racism” is a more noisome one. —John McWhorter, Wall Street Journal, 17 Sept. 2003
4. Small and innocuous looking, the habanero is uncontested as the hottest pepper in the world, the mother of all peppers. —Jim Robbins, Smithsonian, January 1992
5. And there was LeRoy … a somewhat gruesome but innocuous neighborhood dimwit who gave me the creeps when he sat down on the front stoop to listen to a bunch of us talking after school. —Philip Roth, New York Times Book Review, 18 Oct. 1987
6. The salamander, an innocuous amphibian like a big newt, was also regarded with a mixture of horror and awe. —David Attenborough, The First Eden, 1987

Origin of INNOCUOUS

Latin innocuus, from in- + nocēre (see innocent)

First Known Use: 1598

Related to INNOCUOUS

Synonyms: anodyne, benign, hurtless, innocent, harmless, inoffensive, safe, white

Antonyms: adverse, bad, baleful, baneful, damaging, dangerous, deleterious, detrimental, evil, harmful, hurtful, ill, injurious, mischievous, nocuous, noxious, pernicious, prejudicial, wicked

Related Words: healthful, healthy, salubrious, wholesome; benignant; sound, trustworthy; gentle, gracious, mild; nonthreatening, painless, unobjectionable; noncorrosive, nondestructive, nonfatal, noninfectious, nonlethal, nonpoisonous, nonpolluting, nontoxic, nonvenomous

Near Antonyms: poisonous, venomous; menacing, ominous, sinister, threatening; hazardous, imperiling (or imperilling), jeopardizing, parlous, perilous, risky, unsafe, unsound; nasty, noisome, unhealthful, unhealthy, unwholesome; offensive, painful, scathing, wounding; deadly, fatal, lethal, ruinous; destructive, insidious, malignant, noxious, pestilent, polluted, tainted

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