innocuous

adjective

in·​noc·​u·​ous i-ˈnä-kyə-wəs 

1

: not likely to bother or offend : inoffensive

an innocuous comment/remark

The comedian's jokes were innocuous enough.

… newly aware that the behavior isn't as innocuous as they imagined.

—Conor Friedersdorf

2

: causing no injury or damage : harmless

an innocuous by-product of the process

What may seem innocuous at the time could lead to larger problems down the road.

—Marc Zalmanoff

innocuously adverb

innocuousness noun

Did you know?

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 of innocuous

• harmless
• benign
• innocent

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

Recent Examples on the Web

But these seemingly innocuous decisions could stand to pose a serious threat to society at large, as argued below. —Yoshua Bengio, Time, 22 Oct. 2025

But with the latter somewhat marginalized in the Braves' lineup compared to his true talent level, might these seemingly innocuous signings signal a willingness to make a trade? —Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025

Comedian Josh Pray has started using it in front of his kids, working it into his videos, desperate to reclaim a formerly innocuous number. —Scottie Andrew, CNN Money, 18 Oct. 2025

For people with mechanical allodynia, the brain no longer recognizes light touch as being innocuous and instead interprets it as being painful. —Noah Lyons, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Oct. 2025

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