INNOCENCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does innocence mean? 

• INNOCENCE (noun)
  The noun INNOCENCE has 3 senses:

1. the quality of innocent naivete

2. the state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil

3. a state or condition of being innocent of a specific crime or offense

  Familiarity information: INNOCENCE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INNOCENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of innocent naivete

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

artlessness; ingenuousness; innocence; naturalness

Hypernyms ("innocence" is a kind of...):

naiveness; naivete; naivety (lack of sophistication or worldliness)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "innocence"):

innocency (an innocent quality or thing or act)

Derivation:

innocent (lacking in sophistication or worldliness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

innocence; pureness; purity; sinlessness; whiteness

Hypernyms ("innocence" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "innocence"):

cleanness (without moral defects)

Derivation:

innocent (free from sin)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A state or condition of being innocent of a specific crime or offense

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

the trial established his innocence

Hypernyms ("innocence" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "innocence"):

blamelessness; guiltlessness; inculpability; inculpableness (a state of innocence)

clear (the state of being free of suspicion)

Antonym:

guilt (the state of having committed an offense)

Derivation:

innocent (free from evil or guilt)

 Context examples 

For my own part, I do not hesitate to say that, notwithstanding all the evidence produced against her, I believe and rely on her perfect innocence.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And it seemed to me that my innocence of the realities of life had been complete indeed.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Yes, returned Traddles with perfect innocence, it's a joke for us.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He did not know the way of love, nor its speech, while he was frightened at his loved one's clear innocence.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

This preface made me so impatient, being conscious of my own merits and innocence, that I was going to interrupt him; when he entreated me to be silent, and thus proceeded:—

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

"Quite a pastoral state of innocence all round," returned Miss Belle with a shrug.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then you snatch love and innocence from me?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And if Catherine had not most warmly asserted his innocence, it seemed likely that William would lose the favour of his master forever, if not his place, by her rapidity.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Chance, or shall I not rather say Providence, had at last made clear all that had been dark, and given me the means of establishing my innocence.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)