innocuous
/ɪˈnɑkjuəs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.06 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Harmless; producing no ill effect.
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."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *neḱ-, innocuus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪˈnɑkjuəs/
- British English: /ɪˈnɒkjuəs/
Inflected Forms
more innocuous (comparative)
most innocuous (superlative)