Innocuous

/ɪˈnɒkjuəs/ · adjective

Meaning

Harmless; producing no ill effect..

Definitions by Sense

1. Harmless; producing no ill effect.
2. Inoffensive; unprovocative; unexceptionable.

Example Sentences

With its green cupola or tapering spire, / Which sunset touches with innocuous fire, / The little church appears, to sanctify / The precincts duly where men live and die— [...]

The shells fell for the most part innocuous; an eyewitness saw children at play beside the flaming houses; not a soul was injured.

Other things, too, there were, not less deadly though seemingly innocuous—dried fungi, the touch of which was death and whose poison was carried on in the air; also traps intended for birds, beast, fishes, reptiles, and insects; machines which could produce pain of any kind and degree, and the only mercy of which was the power of producing speedy death.

The effects of any one instance of TV absorbing and pablumizing cultural tokens seems innocuous enough.

As the half closed [Gareth] Bale and [Joe] Ledley both went close with good efforts, but [Craig] Bellamy picked up a yellow card for an innocuous challenge that also rules the new Liverpool man out of the trip to Wembley.

Ruth Devlin announced that the song must wait, though it appeared to be innocuous and child-like in its sentiments.

He sat down, and lighted a cigarette, casting about the while for an innocuous topic of conversation.

Synonyms for innocuous

Antonyms for innocuous

Related Words

Word Forms

• more innocuous
• most innocuous

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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