innocence

Language: en

🇬🇧 /ˈɪnəsəns/ 🇺🇸 /ˈɪnəsəns/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    The state or quality of being free from guilt or sin; moral purity.; The state of being free from moral wrong or corruption; purity of heart and mind.; Lack of knowledge or experience; naivety or simplicity.; The state of being harmless or not causing injury; blamelessness.; Simplicity or plainness in appearance, style, or manner.; A state of being not guilty of a specific crime or offense; legal exoneration.; Freedom from cunning or deceit; guilelessness.

🔗 Details

Word forms

uncountable

Collocations

presumption of innocenceloss of innocenceprove one's innocenceclaim of innocenceinnocence lostmaintain one's innocence

Derivatives

innocentinnocentlyinnocuousinnocuously

Synonyms

purityblamelessnessguiltlessnessnaivetynaiveté

Antonyms

guiltculpabilitycorruption

Commonly confused

innocuous
EN: 'Innocence' is the state of being free from guilt; 'innocuous' means harmless or inoffensive.
naivety
EN: 'Innocence' emphasizes lack of guilt or moral purity; 'naivety' emphasizes lack of experience or sophistication.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember 'innocence' has double 'n' and ends in '-ence' (not '-ance'). The related adjective 'innocent' also has double 'n'.

💬 Examples

  1. The jury's verdict confirmed his innocence.

  2. The innocence of childhood is something many adults long to recapture.

  3. She asked the question with complete innocence, unaware of its implications.

  4. The innocence of the victim made the crime all the more horrifying.

  5. The innocence of the white dress made it perfect for the ceremony.

  6. New DNA evidence proved the prisoner's innocence after twenty years.

  7. His innocence made him an easy target for the con artist.