How to Use innocent in a Sentence

innocent

1 of 2 adjective
  • He says that he is innocent of the crime.
  • She was found innocent of all charges.
  • A person accused of a crime is considered innocent until proven guilty.
  • Someone told your secret, but it wasn't me. I'm innocent.
  • But in the process of seeking the truth, her faith is tested and her innocent view of the world destroyed.
    Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Oct. 2023
  • The robe across his knees also drapes the baby in innocent folds.
    Celia Storey, Arkansas Online, 29 May 2023
  • Since then, its work has led to the release of 37 innocent people.
    Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 May 2023
  • Mabu asks in a fake innocent voice, as if this isn’t all scripted.
    Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 12 Jan. 2024
  • Most of those shot were innocent bystanders, police said at the time.
    Sarah Bahari, Dallas News, 4 July 2023
  • The character became a bit more innocent, and the world became more of a pastiche of the Rankin/Bass films.
    Kelsie Gibson, Peoplemag, 7 Nov. 2023
  • But at the same time, of course, there are a lot of innocent Palestinians that have gotten caught up in this war.
    Vera Bergengruen, TIME, 1 Apr. 2024
  • An innocent life, that was taken from this world way too soon.
    Liza Esquibias, Peoplemag, 23 Jan. 2024
  • Those horrible acts would take the lives of 2,977 innocent souls.
    Kevin McDonnell, Peoplemag, 11 Sep. 2023
  • What could Hamas hope to gain by shedding innocent blood?
    Adam Rasgon, The New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2023
  • The brutal murder of two innocent people is the kind of horror that should have made the news across India, even across the world.
    WIRED, 3 Aug. 2023
  • So here is a country that shoots people, innocent people dead in the streets.
    Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, 16 June 2023
  • A case of mistaken identity would lead to the death of an innocent man that night.
    Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2023
  • Well, first, Leader McConnell is right of course that there are a lot of innocent people in Gaza.
    CBS News, 29 Oct. 2023
  • Five to six of the shooting victims are believed to have been innocent bystanders, Thomas said.
    Jessica Gorman, ABC News, 13 June 2023
  • The thought of my innocent mother having to spend her life in prison brings unbearable pain.
    Lily Kuo, Washington Post, 22 Sep. 2023
  • It’s also led to a lot of death and senseless killings of innocent Iranians.
    Lisa Deaderick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Sep. 2023
  • There was this whole read across the industry of guilty until proven innocent.
    Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN, 10 Mar. 2024
  • Her mother, wracked with grief, still wanted to speak to us about her innocent little girl.
    Greg Palkot, Fox News, 3 Dec. 2023
  • The first season is really is about that dreamy, innocent time.
    Maddie Browning, BostonGlobe.com, 11 July 2023
  • This innocent query opens a floodgate of discontent that takes both Sheila and the viewer by surprise.
    Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein, New York Times, 13 June 2023
  • Research shows Black boys are often viewed as older, stronger and less innocent than their peers.
    Akilah Johnson, BostonGlobe.com, 16 May 2023
  • The recent lawsuits faced by innocent bakers, pharmacists, and the Little Sisters of the Poor have made that clear.
    Matthew Malec, National Review, 27 Dec. 2023
  • Lillian isn’t so much an innocent as a blank, the blank screen onto whom others project their fantasies and desires.
    Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2023
  • Baby Rocky Barker, a pure and innocent boy who deserves none of this nonsense.
    Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 29 Jan. 2024
  • While Nica is as naive and innocent as a harmless butterfly, Rigel is often compared to the volatility of a wolf.
    Rebecca Aizin, Peoplemag, 4 Apr. 2024
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innocent

2 of 2 noun
  • How to root-out Hamas in a way that does not cause innocents to suffer?
    Joe Snell, Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2023
  • The case leads them down a rabbit hole where rich predators prey on the innocent.
    Sun Sentinel, 24 Jan. 2023
  • He’s all burnt up. Not to worry, the blood of innocents will have him back in fighting trim in no time.
    Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 12 Apr. 2023
  • Too many innocents too often caught in the line of deadly fire.
    Roy S. Johnson | [email protected], al, 11 Feb. 2020
  • Of course, this leads to Hitler, Stalin, etc, and millions of dead innocents.
    Karla Adam, Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2023
  • The group works also to fix the legal systems that convict the innocent.
    cleveland, 7 Mar. 2022
  • As Ukraine puts up a fierce defense Russia turns its guns on the innocent.
    NBC News, 20 Mar. 2022
  • Yes there may be some innocents caught up but no plan is perfect.
    Maham Javaid, Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2023
  • Cars slammed on brakes, wrenched steering wheels, and skidded in heavy traffic to avoid the innocents.
    Sainted & Tainted Writers, Twin Cities, 29 June 2019
  • If innocents are locked up, who can rightly enjoy the peace?
    Amada Torruella, The New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2023
  • The two have an appealing Mutt & Jeff chemistry, quasi-innocents in a seedy world.
    John Defore, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Feb. 2018
  • This movie, starring Dev Patel, tells the story of the victims and survivors of the attack, and the waiter who risked his life to save innocents.
    Cady Drell, Marie Claire, 23 May 2019
  • Lulled by the presence of innocents, the president made a couple of mild funnies.
    Kenzie Bryant, Vanities, 27 Oct. 2017
  • The show’s drama pivots upon the question of whether Mr. Pickles is a Mr. Rogers-style innocent, or a naif out of step with the modern world.
    Akiva Gottlieb, latimes.com, 14 June 2019
  • In each and every case, the Left does not countenance any action that might protect the innocents.
    Wilfred Reilly, National Review, 18 Oct. 2023
  • Two, the innocents who are massacred, in the cartels’ quest for power, will not take death lying down.
    Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2019
  • Starting that with the cessation of U.S.-South Korea war games—that is, practicing the mass murder of innocents—is a good way to get the ball rolling.
    Beatrice Fihn, Time, 13 June 2018
  • Killer drones in the hands of terrorists massacring innocents.
    IEEE Spectrum, 22 Dec. 2017
  • As the number of targets increase, danger to innocents will, too.
    Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, 22 Sep. 2017
  • Basquiat became famous in the early 1980s, when the idea that artists were supposed to be commercial innocents fell apart for good.
    Stephen Metcalf, The Atlantic, 24 June 2018
  • And that raises the question of whether the attack against such innocents might prove to be a tipping point that galvanizes Afghans seeking a way out of war.
    Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 May 2020
  • In one, the Philippines is a place of fear and chaos, where innocents are gunned down in the streets and a foul-mouthed despot encourages ruthless justice against those who defy him.
    Jessica Mendoza, The Christian Science Monitor, 9 Apr. 2018
  • And would said bear go after the thoughtless photographer or the four innocents?
    WSJ, 2 Aug. 2018
  • Does China believe that innocents should not be killed?
    Matt Surman Anushka Patil Juston Jones Julie Ho Julie Ho Julie Ho Monika Pronczuk Emile Ducke Andrea Kannapell The New York Times Monika Pronczuk Anushka Patil Farnaz Fassihi Andrea Kannapell Carlotta Gall Cassandra Vinograd Cassandra Vinograd Michael D. Shear Marc Santora Maya King Michael D. Shear Marc Santora Michael D. Shear Cassandra Vinograd Farnaz Fassihi Farnaz Fassihi Farnaz Fassihi Farna, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2023
  • There are no goodies and baddies, just violent, greedy, immoral men and innocents caught in the crossfire.
    J.b., The Economist, 18 June 2019
  • This incident underscores the tragic fact that innocents will die in Gaza in large numbers if this war drags on.
    Jo-Ann Mort, The New Republic, 18 Oct. 2023
  • The children—dearly loved daughters, sons, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends—were innocents whose lives ended by an act of terror.
    Chandrima Chakraborty, Quartz India, 24 June 2019
  • Jesus's family fled King Herod's slaughter of the innocents and found asylum in Egypt.
    Nicholas Kristof, Alaska Dispatch News, 19 Sep. 2017
  • Their own feelings often encompass fierce criticisms of the Israeli government’s actions, loathing of Hamas and sympathy for the plight of innocents on all sides of the conflict.
    Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Dec. 2023
  • As the war proceeds, the IDF should pursue its aims—which Israelis overwhelmingly endorse—as quickly as possible while minimizing collateral damage and the injury of innocents.
    Shalom Lipner, Foreign Affairs, 29 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'innocent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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