innocence

in·no·cence  (n-sns)

n.

1. The state, quality, or virtue of being innocent, as:

a. Freedom from sin, moral wrong, or guilt through lack of knowledge of evil.

b. Guiltlessness of a specific legal crime or offense.

c. Freedom from guile, cunning, or deceit; simplicity or artlessness.

d. Lack of worldliness or sophistication; naiveté.

e. Lack of knowledge or understanding; ignorance.

f. Freedom from harmfulness; inoffensiveness.

2. One that is innocent.

3. Botany See blue-eyed Mary.

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innocence [ˈɪnəsəns]

n

the quality or state of being innocent Archaic word innocency [ˈɪnəsənsɪ]

[from Latin innocentia harmlessness, from innocēns doing no harm, blameless, from in-¹ + nocēns harming, from nocēre to hurt, harm; see noxious]

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Innocence 

See Also: HARMLESSNESS

1. Green as apples —Sumner Locke Elliott
2. Guileless as old Huck —Richard Ford
3. Guiltless forever, like a tree —Robert Browning
4. Innocence is like an umbrella: when once we’ve lost it we must never hope to see it back again —Punch
5. (Catherine’s) innocence shone like an icon —Rita Mae Brown
6. Innocent and affectionate as a child —W. H. Hudson
7. Innocent and artless, like the growth of a flower —Isak Dinesen
8. Innocent as a baby —Anon
9. Innocent as a child unborn —Anon

   Jonathan Swift who used the phrase in Directions to Servants is often credited as its author.

10. (I was a neophyte about as) innocent as a choirboy being asked to conduct a solemn mass at the Vatican —Alistair Cooke, New York Times interview, January 19, 1986
11. Innocent as a curl —Clarence Major
12. Innocent as a devil of two years old —Jonathan Swift
13. Innocent as a game —Frank Tuohy
14. Innocent as a new-laid egg —W. S. Gilbert
15. Innocent as a snowflake —Anne Sexton
16. (Gaze as) innocent as a teddy bear —Babs H. Deal
17. Innocent as a tourist’s Kodak —William Mcllvanney
18. Innocent, like a hornet that has been disarmed —Jean Stafford
19. (Sat there as) innocently as small boys confiding to each other the names of toy animals —Henry James
20. Innocuous as flowers afloat in a pond —John Updike
21. Perennial innocence like a chicken in a pen —William Faulkner
22. She was like a young tree whose branches had never been touched by the ruthless hand of man —Katherine Mansfield

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	innocence - the quality of innocent naivete       artlessness, ingenuousness, naturalness naiveness, naivete, naivety - lack of sophistication or worldliness innocency - an innocent quality or thing or act; "the innocencies of childhood"
	2.	innocence - the state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil sinlessness, whiteness, pureness, purity condition, status - a state at a particular time; "a condition (or state) of disrepair"; "the current status of the arms negotiations" cleanness - without moral defects
	3.	innocence - a state or condition of being innocent of a specific crime or offense; "the trial established his innocence" condition, status - a state at a particular time; "a condition (or state) of disrepair"; "the current status of the arms negotiations" blamelessness, guiltlessness, inculpability, inculpableness - a state of innocence clear - the state of being free of suspicion; "investigation showed that he was in the clear" guilt, guiltiness - the state of having committed an offense

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innocence

noun

1. naiveté, simplicity, inexperience, freshness, credulity, gullibility, ingenuousness, artlessness, unworldliness, guilelessness, credulousness, simpleness, trustfulness, unsophistication, naiveness the sweet innocence of youth
naiveté cunning, guile, worldliness, artfulness, disingenuousness, wiliness

2. blamelessness, righteousness, clean hands, uprightness, sinlessness, irreproachability, guiltlessness He claims to have evidence which could prove his innocence.
blamelessness guilt, sinfulness, corruption, impurity, offensiveness, wrongness

3. chastity, virtue, purity, modesty, virginity, celibacy, continence, maidenhood, stainlessness She can still evoke the innocence of 14-year-old Juliet.

4. ignorance, oblivion, lack of knowledge, inexperience, unfamiliarity, greenness, unawareness, nescience (literary) 'Maybe innocence is bliss,' he suggested.

Quotations
"He's armed without that's innocent within" [Alexander Pope Epilogue to the Satires]
"Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others" [La Rochefoucauld Maxims]
"Whoever blushes is already guilty; true innocence is ashamed of nothing" [Jean Jacques Rousseau Émile]
"It's innocence when it charms us, ignorance when it doesn't" [Mignon McLaughlin The Neurotic's Notebook]

Translations

innocence [ˈɪnəsns] N → inocencia f
in all innocence → con toda inocencia, de la forma más inocente

innocence [ˈɪnəsəns] n

(LAW) → innocence f
to protest one's innocence → protester de son innocence

(= naivety) [person, child] → innocence f

innocence

n

→ Unschuld f; to feign innocence → vorgeben, unschuldig zu sein, unschuldig tun; in all innocence → in aller Unschuld

(liter, = ignorance) → Unkenntnis f

innocence [ˈɪnəsns] n → innocenza