innocuous

adjective

in·​noc·​u·​ous i-ˈnä-kyə-wəs 

1

: producing no injury : harmless

2

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

innocuously adverb

innocuousness noun

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Look at the Prefix to Define Innocuous

Innocuous has harmful roots – it comes to us from the Latin adjective innocuus, which was formed by combining the negative prefix in- with a form of the verb nocēre, meaning "to harm" or "to hurt." In addition, nocēre is related to the truly "harmful" words noxious, nocent, and even nocuous. Innocent is from nocēre as well, although like innocuous it has the in- prefix negating the hurtful possibilities. Innocuous first appeared in print in the early 17th century with the clearly Latin-derived meaning "harmless or causing no injury" (as in "an innocuous gas"). The second sense is a metaphorical extension of the idea of injury, used to indicate that someone or something does not cause hurt feelings, or even strong feelings ("an innocuous book" or "innocuous issues," for example).

Synonyms

• anodyne
• benign
• harmless
• hurtless
• innocent
• inoffensive
• safe
• white

Examples of innocuous in a Sentence

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

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

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

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

He told a few innocuous jokes.

those innocuous lies we must tell every day if society is to remain civil

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Recent Examples on the Web

Both instances were examples of a handful of people imbuing an innocuous object with nefarious meaning, with intense social media amplification broadcasting the claim to a wider audience. —Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 2 Dec. 2023

In June, the director filed a restraining order against Michl, whose initially innocuous fan messages had turned violent and threatening, Rockwell said in court documents reviewed by The Times. —Malia Mendez, Los Angeles Times, 2 Dec. 2023

The findings suggest that even seemingly innocuous deepfakes can contribute to the liar’s dividend. —IEEE Spectrum, 9 Nov. 2023

And all this around an innocuous pair of Tabi-toed Mary-Janes. —Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 6 Sep. 2023

The red, green, white and black flag has faced controversy for decades — making innocuous symbols, such as the watermelon, particularly appealing to activists. —Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 16 Nov. 2023

To its opponents, the bill was far from an innocuous clarification, and the stakes for kids were potentially huge. —Emma Brown and Peter Jamison, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Aug. 2023

In addition to the mostly innocuous local forums like the Telegram channel Bilozerka Chat, there were partisan forums devoted to shaming Russian helpmeets. —James Verini Paolo Pellegrin, New York Times, 1 Nov. 2023

Antisemitism can be innocuous, almost unintentional, innocent ignorance or violent and deeply rooted in false ideas about the nature, reality and diversity of Jews. —Marc Maron, Variety, 18 Oct. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

Latin innocuus, from in- + nocēre — see innocent entry 1

First Known Use

1631, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

innocuous

adjective

in·​noc·​u·​ous in-ˈäk-yə-wəs 

1

: producing no injury : harmless

an innocuous gas

2

: not likely to bother anyone : inoffensive

made a few innocuous jokes

innocuously adverb

innocuousness noun

Medical Definition

innocuous

adjective

in·​noc·​u·​ous in-ˈäk-yə-wəs 

: producing no injury : not harmful

innocuously adverb