- 1not guilty of a crime, etc.; not having done something wrong They have imprisoned an innocent man. innocent (of something) She was found innocent of any crime. He was the innocent party (= person) in the breakdown of the marriage. There must be an innocent explanation for her behavior. opposite guilty
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- 2[only before noun] suffering harm or being killed because of a crime, war, etc. although not directly involved in it an innocent bystander innocent victims of a bomb blast Thousands of innocent civilians have been killed in this conflict.
- 3not intended to cause harm or upset someone synonym harmless It was all innocent fun. It was a perfectly innocent remark.
- 4having little experience of the world, especially of sexual matters, or of evil or unpleasant things synonym naive an innocent young child
adverb “Oh, Sue went too, did she?” I asked innocently (= pretending I did not know that this was important).See innocent in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Check pronunciation: innocent