■ adjective
1》 not guilty of a crime or offence.
↘not responsible or directly involved: an ~ bystander.
2》 free from moral wrong; not corrupted.
3》 not intended to cause offence; harmless.
4》 ( ~ of ) without experience or knowledge of: a man ~ of war's cruelties.
↘without; lacking.
■ noun an ~ person.
Derivatives
innocence noun
innocency noun ( archaic ).
~ly adverb
Origin
ME: from OFr., or from L. ~- 'not harming', from in- 'not' + nocere 'to hurt'.