Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Innocuous |
InnocuousAdjective1. Not injurious to physical or mental health. 2. Unlikely to harm or disturb anyone; "harmless old man". 3. Not causing disapproval; "it was an innocuous remark"; "confined himself to innocuous generalities"; "unobjectionable behavior". 4. Lacking intent or capacity to injure; "an innocent prank". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "innocuous" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1657. (references) |
Etymology: Innocuous \In*noc"u*ous\, adjective. [Latin expression innocuus; in- not nocuus hurtful, from nocere to hurt. See Innocent.]. (references) |
Synonyms: InnocuousSynonyms: harmless (adj), innocent (adj), unobjectionable (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: noxious (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Inexpedience | Adjective: harmless, hurtless; unobnoxious, innocuous, innocent, inoffensive. |
Innocence | Harmless; inoffensive, innoxious, innocuous; dove-like, lamb-like; pure, harmless as doves; innocent as a lamb, innocent as the babe unborn; "more sinned against than sinning". |
Salubrity | Innoxious, innocuous, innocent; harmless, uninjurious, uninfectious. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Innocuous |
| English words defined with "innocuous": placebo ♦ sand snake ♦ unobjectionable. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "innocuous": Apostles ♦ fart around ♦ Inert Ingredient ♦ Refuse Disposal ♦ Spot Bill, step encipherment, step encypherment ♦ Waste Disposal, Fluid. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Lyrics | There are innocuous folk songs (The Folk Song Army; performing artist: Tom Lehrer) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | This condition is called allodynia -a state in which pain is produced by innocuous stimuli. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Innocuous" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.48% of the time. "Innocuous" is used about 193 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.48% | 192 | 22,147 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.52% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 193 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "innocuous": innocuous-looking. | |
Ending with "innocuous": seemingly-innocuous. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
innocuous | 15 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "innocuous"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | i parrezikshëm (benign, benignant, harmless, innoxious, safe), i padëmshëm (harmless, innocent, innoxious, inoffensive, safe, scatheless), joarmiqësor (innoxious, inoffensive). (various references) | |
Arabic | حميد غير مؤذ, غير ضار (unhurt). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | безвреден (anodyne, harmless, innocent, innoxious, unoffending). (various references) | |
Chinese | 害 (harmless). (various references) | |
Czech | nevinný (all right, blameless, dewy-eyed, guiltless, innocent, not guilty, white), neškodný (harmless, innoxious, inoffensive, scathless). (various references) | |
Farsi | بی ضرر (Innocent, Inoffensive). (various references) | |
French | inoffensif (inoffensive), innoffensif (innocent), innocent (innocent), bénin (innocent). (various references) | |
German | harmlos (easy, guileless, guiltless, harmless, harmlessly, innocent, inoffensive, mild, nonviscous, safe, slight, unoffending, unoffendingly, unsuspicious). (various references) | |
Greek | αβλαβήσ (harmless, hurtless, innoxious, inoffensive, inviolate, scatheless, scot free, undamaged, unharmed, unhurt, unimpaired, unoffending, unscathed). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לא מזיק (harmless), לא מסוכן. (various references) | |
Hungarian | ártalmatlan (harmless, innoxious, inoffensive, unhurting, unoffending, white). (various references) | |
Italian | innocuo (harmless, innoxious, unoffending), innecuo (innocent), benigno (benign, benignant, genial). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 差し障りのない (inoffensive). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | さしさわりのない (inoffensive). (various references) | |
Manx | oney (artless, harmless, honest, innocent, morally uncorrupted, simple, well-meant). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | innocuousay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | inofensivo (canny, harmless, innocent, innoxious, inoffensive, pet, tame), incuo, que no faz mal (harmless). (various references) | |
Romanian | inofensiv (harmless, innoxious, inoffensive, sackless, unobjectionable, unoffending). (various references) | |
Russian | безвредный (harmless, innocent, innoxious). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | neškodljiv (harmless, innoxious, inoffensive, scatheless). (various references) | |
Spanish | inocuo (harmless, innoxious). (various references) | |
Swedish | oskadlig (harmless, innocent, inocuous), ofarlig (harmless, innoxious, safe), harmlös (innocent, innoxious). (various references) | |
Thai | ซึ่งไม่มีอันตราย (innoxious). (various references) | |
Turkish | zararsız (harmless, innoxious, inoffensive, platonic, unoffending), tehlikesiz (benign, benignant, safe, uncritical). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | нешкідливий (harmless, innoxious, inoffensive, non-malignant, non-poisonous, white). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | không có hại; vô thưởng, không độc (innoxious, non-toxic). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | innoxia, innoxias, innoxii, innoxio, innoxium, innoxius. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "innocuous": innocuously, innocuousness, innocuousnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Innocuous" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: innoccous, innocous, innoculous, innocuoos, innocuos, inoccuous, inocuous. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "innocuous" (pronounced i'nÄ"kyuwus) |
| 5 | -k y uw u s | conspicuous, vacuous. |
| 4 | -y uw u s | ambiguous, contiguous, continuous, disingenuous, ingenuous, strenuous. |
| 3 | -uw u s | arduous, contemptuous, deciduous, incongruous, tempestuous, tumultuous, virtuous. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-i-n-n-o-o-s-u-u" | |
-2 letters: nocuous, nuncios, uncinus. | |
-3 letters: conins, cousin, nuncio, onions, unions, unison. | |
-4 letters: cions, coins, conin, conns, conus, coons, icons, incus, noons, nouns, onion, scion, sonic, uncos, uncus, union. | |
-5 letters: cion, coin, coni, conn, cons, coon, coos, icon, inns, ions, noon, noun, nous, nuns, onus, soon, sunn, unci, unco. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-i-n-n-o-o-s-u-u" | |
+1 letter: continuous. | |
+2 letters: incongruous, innocuously, unconscious. | |
+3 letters: continuously, uncensorious. | |
+4 letters: countinghouse, discontinuous, incongruously, inconspicuous, innocuousness, noncontiguous, noncontinuous, unceremonious, unconsciouses, unconsciously, uncontentious. | |
+5 letters: consanguineous, contiguousness, continuousness, countinghouses. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
