Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for innocuous

innocuous

[ ih-nok-yoo-uhs ]

adjective

  1. not harmful or injurious; harmless:

    an innocuous home remedy.

  2. not likely to irritate or offend; inoffensive; an innocuous remark.
  3. not interesting, stimulating, or significant; pallid; insipid:

    an innocuous novel.



innocuous

/ ˌɪnəˈkjuːɪtɪ; ɪˈnɒkjʊəs /

adjective

  1. having little or no adverse or harmful effect; harmless


Discover More

Derived Forms

  • inˈnocuousness, noun
  • inˈnocuously, adverb

Discover More

Other Words From

  • in·nocu·ous·ly adverb
  • in·nocu·ous·ness in·no·cu·i·ty [in-, uh, -, kyoo, -i-tee], noun
  • unin·nocu·ous adjective
  • unin·nocu·ous·ly adverb
  • unin·nocu·ous·ness noun

Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of innocuous1

From the Latin word innocuus, dating back to 1590–1600. See in- 3, nocuous

Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of innocuous1

C16: from Latin innocuus harmless, from in- 1+ nocēre to harm

Discover More

Example Sentences

Seemingly innocuous at the time, Abdullahi’s statement now feels ominous after details of the bill became public this week.

From Quartz

A tool designed for an innocuous purpose can be easily used for the same function but with a far different application in mind.

It’s the nature of my medium versus his that it sounds more innocuous.

They regularly take down innocuous posts while giving hate speech and misinformation a pass.

They cover city councils and schools under innocuous-sounding banners such as “Illinois Valley Times” and the “Lansing Sun.”

Some have innocuous-seeming URLs like cardpool.com or giftcardgranny.com, which cloak the sinister operations.

The contrarians of the world went full Oliver Stone on the innocuous tune, branding it “problematic” and “anti-feminist.”

The film, however, makes Asher a pilot and Fiona a caretaker to the newborns—seemingly innocuous decisions that become meaningful.

One faction contends violent games invite real-world brutality, and the other faction defends violent games as innocuous.

It feels like an innocuous moment, it should be an innocuous moment, but such moments are like serrated precipices.

I wonder if you would have eschewed the harmless, necessary tub and danced upon the broken bones of the innocuous toothbrush.

They transgressed only to the innocuous extent of smuggling moneyed stowaways and contraband goods.

Having no means the Commission could do absolutely nothing, and hence may be said to be in a state of "innocuous desuetude."

Dr. Grassi mentions an innocuous and yet conclusive experiment that every one can try.

They could hardly both have been wandering there for the innocuous purpose you attribute to Miss Turner.

Advertisement

Related Words

Word of the Day

axolotl

[ak-suh-lot-l ]

Meaning and examples

Start each day with the Word of the Day in your inbox!

By clicking "Sign Up", you are accepting Dictionary.com Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policies.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


Innocent XIIIinnominate