/ ˈɪnəsnt; NAmE / adjective , noun
■ adjective
1.
innocent (of sth) not guilty of a crime, etc.; not having done sth wrong :
They have imprisoned an innocent man.
She was found innocent of any crime.
He was the innocent party (= person) in the breakdown of the marriage.
OPP guilty
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
3.
not intended to cause harm or upset sb
SYN harmless :
It was all innocent fun.
It was a perfectly innocent remark.
4.
having little experience of the world, especially of sexual matters, or of evil or unpleasant things
SYN naive :
an innocent young child
► in·no·cent·ly adverb :
'Oh, Sue went too, did she?' I asked innocently (= pretending I did not know that this was important) .
■ noun
an innocent person, especially a young child
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WORD ORIGIN
Middle English : from Old French , or from Latin innocent- not harming, from in- not + nocere to hurt.