innocent

Universal Words adjective, noun adjective 1 ~ (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. * There must be an innocent explanation for her behaviour. OPPGUILTY 2 [onlybeforenoun] 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. 3 not intended to cause harm or upset sb SYNHARMLESS: 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: an innocent young child innocently 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