as in innocent
free from guilt or blame
the state's lieutenant governor was the only member of the administration who could claim to have remained lily-white during the scandal
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Recent Examples of lily-white
To the naked eye, the sport’s lily-white facade is deeply pervasive.
—
Essence, 17 Oct. 2024
The suburbs have long and deep histories of racial exclusion, creating the lily-white neighborhoods that benefited generations of white families.
—Becky Nicolaides / Made By History, TIME, 15 Aug. 2024
Riding was a lily-white sport there, too, but there wasn’t the same kind of ceiling on what was possible for a Black man.
—Ryan Lenora Brown, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 June 2024
Follow Thomas through the lily-white halls of his suburban school that contrasted sharply with his urban neighborhood, trying to reconcile his sexuality with the Christianity that raised him, the exhaustion of code-switching, covering the 2016 election and everything that came after.
—Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 30 May 2024
The main protagonist, Audrey (Ashley Park), a successful lawyer who was adopted from China by a White American couple, has been best friends with Lolo (Sherry Cola) since childhood, bonding over being two of the few Asians in their almost lily-white hometown.
—Olivia McCormack, Washington Post, 5 July 2023
Essence, 17 Oct. 2024
The suburbs have long and deep histories of racial exclusion, creating the lily-white neighborhoods that benefited generations of white families.
—Becky Nicolaides / Made By History, TIME, 15 Aug. 2024
Riding was a lily-white sport there, too, but there wasn’t the same kind of ceiling on what was possible for a Black man.
—Ryan Lenora Brown, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 June 2024
Follow Thomas through the lily-white halls of his suburban school that contrasted sharply with his urban neighborhood, trying to reconcile his sexuality with the Christianity that raised him, the exhaustion of code-switching, covering the 2016 election and everything that came after.
—Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 30 May 2024
The main protagonist, Audrey (Ashley Park), a successful lawyer who was adopted from China by a White American couple, has been best friends with Lolo (Sherry Cola) since childhood, bonding over being two of the few Asians in their almost lily-white hometown.
—Olivia McCormack, Washington Post, 5 July 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lily-white
Adjective
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Someone's mispronunciation, for example, might have more do with innocent ignorance as opposed to a mistake worth correcting.—
David Oliver,
USA Today,
13 Sep. 2025
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The new location will allow Wiggam Law to support clients outside of downtown Atlanta and directly in Gwinnett County, offering legal services including audit defense, tax litigation, penalty abatement, innocent spouse relief and IRS collections representation.—
Kelly Phillips Erb,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Stroud isn’t blameless in the Texans’ severe pass-protection issues dating to last year.—
Tom Krasovic,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 Sep. 2025
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No party in the war was blameless, but Hezbollah distinguished itself by outright rejecting norms of war and diplomacy.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Each of them offers money and position but nothing much in the way of pleasure, excitement, intellectual stimulation, or the prospect of anything other than a life of loveless, socially irreproachable tedium possibly brightened by the occasional extramarital affair.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 Sep. 2025
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Beneath their air of irreproachable authority, Jung and Freud — both brilliantly played, the first with subtlety, the other with theatrical relish — wrestle with petty grievances and insecurities, while the former stubbornly rationalizes his affair with onetime patient Spielrein.—
A.A. Dowd,
Vulture,
28 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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And how many guiltless prisoners there are here!—
Alexei Navalny,
The New Yorker,
11 Oct. 2024
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Many fans found its generally joyous treatment of Miranda’s guiltless affair with Che, a nonbinary comedian, in the first season off-putting.—
Lili Loofbourow,
Washington Post,
21 June 2023
Cite this Entry
“Lily-white.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lily-white. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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