adj.
- not guilty of a crime or offence.
▸not responsible or directly involved:
an innocent bystander.
- free from moral wrong; not corrupted.
- not intended to cause offence; harmless.
-
(innocent of)
without experience or knowledge of:
a man innocent of war's cruelties.
▸without; lacking.
n.
an innocent person.
Derivative
- innocence n.
- innocency n. (archaic).
- innocently adv.
Etymology
ME: from OFr., or from L. innocent- ‘not harming’, from in- ‘not’ + nocere ‘to hurt’.