innocence
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English
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English , from Old French inocence, from Latin innocentia. Displaced native Old English unsċyld.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɪnəsn̩s/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
innocence (countable and uncountable, plural innocences)
- Absence of responsibility for a crime, tort, etc.
- Lack of understanding about sensitive subjects such as sexuality and crime.
- Synonym: naivety
- In his innocence, he offered the stranger to bring the package to Paris, never suspecting it contained drugs.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 9, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- Eustace gaped at him in amazement. When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:innocence.
- Lack of ability or intention to harm or damage.
- Synonym: harmlessness
- Antonym: harmfulness
- Tests have demonstrated the innocence of this substance.
- 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 96:
- His unruly hair was slicked down with water, and as Jessamy introduced him to Miss Brindle his face assumed a cherubic innocence which would immediately have aroused the suspicions of anyone who knew him.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:innocence.
- (obsolete) Imbecility; mental deficiency.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
absence of responsibility for a crime
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lack of understanding about sensitive subjects such as sexuality and crime
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lack of ability or intention to harm or damage
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French inocence, a borrowing from Latin innocentia.
Pronunciation
Noun
innocence f (plural innocences)
- innocence
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “innocence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.