Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations

Click to move up the list of words
innovate
innovation
innovative
Innsbruck
Innu
innuendo
Innuit
innumerable
innumerate
inobservance
inobtrusive
inocula
inoculant
inoculate
inoculum
inodorous
inoffensive
Click to move down the list of words
Also available:

World English Dictionary
Dictionnaire Français

innocence

in·no·cence [ ínnəss'nss ]


noun 
Definition:
 
1. absence of guilt: the state of not being guilty of a crime or offense

2. harmlessness: harmlessness in intention

3. freedom from sin: freedom from sin or evil

4. lack of worldly experience: a lack of experience of the world, especially when this results in a failure to recognize the harmful intentions of other people

5. ignorance: ignorance of the serious consequences of something such as an act or remark

6. chastity: sexual inexperience

7. law lawfulness: the state of being permitted by law

8. botany 
Same as  blue-eyed Mary


[14th century. Via French< Latin innocentia< innocent- (see innocent)]

in·no·cen·cy noun

Cultural Note

The Age of Innocence, a novel (1920) by Edith Wharton. It tells the story of a young man's failure to rise above the repressive social conventions of fashionable New York society in the late 19th century. Newland Archer, a sensitive and intelligent lawyer, falls in love with his wife's cousin, Ellen Olenska, a mysterious sophisticate who has returned from Europe bearing the social stigma of a marital separation. The novel reveals the subtle workings by which his elite tribe reaffirms its mores and thwarts his desire. Martin Scorsese directed a movie adaptation in 1993.

Advertisement

© 2009 Microsoft