1
as in pure
free from sin
an innocent baby
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in acquitted
free from guilt or blame
the robbery suspect was eventually found to be innocent
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3
as in unaffected
free from any intent to deceive or impress others
an innocent offer to sing before the gathering
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4
as in naive
lacking in worldly wisdom or informed judgment
an innocent young woman who felt a little out of place among her more sophisticated roommates
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5
as in harmless
not causing or being capable of causing injury or hurt
good-natured teasing that is just innocent fun
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6
as in ignorant
not informed about or aware of something
a woman who seems entirely innocent of good manners and common courtesy
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as in angel
an innocent or gentle person
an innocent who is often puzzled by and prey to the evils of the world
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of innocent
Equal Justice Initiative, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Lawrence propels herself through space like a woman possessed, and Ramsay underscores her mysterious inner drive with music and rhythm, letting songs illustrate Grace’s moods and whims, from the innocent to the romantic to the punishing.
—Katie Walsh, Boston Herald, 6 Nov. 2025
Jenny Wiegand, Outside, 27 Aug. 2025
Thus, the probability of innocents being killed or wounded in these deployments is high.
—Jason Ma, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for innocent
Adjective
More than 200 innocent Black men were arrested in Pittsburgh that night.
—Equal Justice Initiative, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Lawrence propels herself through space like a woman possessed, and Ramsay underscores her mysterious inner drive with music and rhythm, letting songs illustrate Grace’s moods and whims, from the innocent to the romantic to the punishing.
—Katie Walsh, Boston Herald, 6 Nov. 2025
Noun
After a new kind of dawn patrol to remove our tired but awake—and vocal—kids from the innocents in the campsites around us, my husband and I called uncle.
—Jenny Wiegand, Outside, 27 Aug. 2025
Thus, the probability of innocents being killed or wounded in these deployments is high.
—Jason Ma, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for innocent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for innocent
Adjective
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Obviously, this is pure speculation at this point in time.—
Evan Massey,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Nov. 2025
-
Rybakina is one of the purest ballstrikers on the tour, whose all-or-nothing game can veer from erratic to unplayable in the space of a few games.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
10 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
But in an interview with ABC News, United Airlines' chief customer officer, David Kinzelman, said most travelers will be unaffected by the small number of cancellations, and the airline is aiming to have the least amount of impact on its passengers.—
Ayesha Ali,
ABC News,
6 Nov. 2025
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Yahoo Newscontinued that when prey struck the web perpendicularly, the waves produced were unaffected by the stabilimenta.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
2 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Ma’s description of enormous, glistening grocery stores could be explained as the musings of a person who longs for stability and plentitude, or of a naive character who thinks of America as a land of boundless riches.—
Tope Folarin,
The Atlantic,
8 Nov. 2025
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But these juvenile white sharks may be naive to orcas.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Here are five times what seemed like a harmless toy turned into a puzzling moment online.—
Alice Gibbs,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Nov. 2025
-
This is usually harmless and goes away when intake is reduced.—
Barbie Cervoni,
Verywell Health,
7 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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In fact, the term itself was an epithet throughout the founding era, a way to describe ignorant and easily deceived popular majorities, perpetually vulnerable to demagogues.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Oct. 2025
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International students are close to entirely ignorant of Canadian history and politics.—
Dónal Gill,
The Dial,
28 Oct. 2025
Noun
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For it is He who created the angels, and thus Memnoch, a fallen angel, who God basically sees as the loyal opposition.—
Jordan Hoffman,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 Nov. 2025
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The handsewn and carefully backstitched quilts feature colorful images of buffalo heads, turtles, eagles, angels and other patterns that come to Water in her dreams.—
Alicia Wallace,
CNN Money,
7 Nov. 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
Adjective
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The real question is whether genuine mutual interest emerges from those preliminary conversations, many of which will take place in Las Vegas this week.—
Patrick McAvoy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Nov. 2025
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For most of the year, tennis watchers have been bemoaning the lack of a genuine threat to Sinner and Alcaraz, but here Fritz had the latter on the rack.—
Charlie Eccleshare,
New York Times,
11 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Innocent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/innocent. Accessed 14 Nov. 2025.
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