innocence

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Lack of guilt

Nouns

1. innocence, guiltlessness, blamelessness, incorruption, impeccability, clean bill of health, clean hands, clean slate; benefit of the doubt; purity, virtue, virginity, chastity; artlessness, naiveté, candor, simpleness; immaculacy, cleanness. See probity.

2. (innocent person) innocent, child, lamb, dove, saint, newborn babe, naïf; virgin, maid; babe in the woods. Slang, canned goods, salt-water Negro, choirboy.

Verbs — be innocent, have a clear conscience; exonerate, acquit (see acquittal); exculpate (see vindication); whitewash; keep one's nose clean; give the benefit of the doubt.

Adjectives — innocent, not guilty, unguilty, guiltless, faultless, sinless, stainless, bloodless, spotless, sans peur et sans reproche, clean, immaculate, unspotted, unblemished, unerring; unsullied, undefiled (see probity); unravished, virginal, pure, white as snow, virtuous; Arcadian, artless, guileless, naive, simple, unsophisticated; inculpable, unculpable, unblamed, unblamable, blameless, above suspicion; irreproachable, irreprovable, irreprehensible; unexceptionable, unobjectionable, unimpeachable; harmless, inoffensive, innocuous; dovelike, lamblike; innocent as a lamb, saint, child, babe unborn, etc.; more sinned against than sinning, unreproved, unimpeached. Informal, in the clear.

Adverbs — innocently, etc.; with clean hands; with a clear conscience.

Quotations — It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer (William Blackstone), Innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world meaning no harm (Graham Greene), In maiden meditation, fancy-free (Shakespeare), God will not cast away an innocent man (Bible), The innocent are God's elect (St. Clement).

Antonyms, see guilt.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Freedom from guilt]

Syn. guiltlessness, blamelessness, integrity, probity, impeccability, inculpability, clear conscience, faultlessness, clean hands*; see also honesty 1 .

Ant. guilt*, culpability, dishonesty.

2. [Freedom from guile]

Syn. guilelessness, artlessness, naiveté, frankness, candor, candidness, simplicity, unaffectedness, plainness, forthrightness, ingenuousness, trustfulness, credulity, harmlessness, inoffensiveness; see also simplicity 2 , sincerity .

Ant. trickery*, shrewdness, wariness.

3. [Lack of experience]

Syn. purity, virginity, naiveté; see chastity , ignorance 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. freedom from guilt blameless-ness, clean hands, virtue, inculpability, clear conscience, purity, righteousness.

2. simplicity naivete, harmlessness, unsophistication, unworldliness, ingenuousness, artlessness, gullibility, unfamiliarity. ''The unbounded hope, the heavenly ignorance.''—Lord Byron.

ANT.: 1. guilt, unclean hands, corruption. 2. artfulness, worldliness, sophistication, disengenuousness

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. The condition of being chaste: chastity, decency, modesty, purity, virginity, virtue, vir-tuousness. See GOOD, RESTRAINT, SEX. 2. The condition of being uninformed or unaware: ignorance, nescience, obliviousness, unawareness, unconsciousness, unfamiliarity. See KNOWLEDGE.