Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having no adverse effect; harmless.
- adj. Not likely to offend or provoke to strong emotion; insipid.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Harmless; producing no ill effect; incapable of harm or mischief.
- Specifically In herpetology, not venomous.
Wiktionary
- adj. Harmless; producing no ill effect.
- adj. Inoffensive; unprovocative; not exceptional.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Harmless; producing no ill effect.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not causing disapproval
- adj. not injurious to physical or mental health
- adj. lacking intent or capacity to injure
Etymologies
- From Latin innocuus : in-, not; see in-1 + nocuus, harmful (from nocēre, to harm; see nek-1 in Indo-European roots).
Examples
“He noted what he called an innocuous collection of photos of junior boxing groups.”
“A speech by the president should be in innocuous exercise in civics and public discourse.”
“Explaining your challenge to something fairly innocuous is a courteous, adult thing to do.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Discourteous to Wear American Flag Images on Cinco de Mayo?
“And the writers are usually pretty darned clever about having something innocuous from the early part of the episode prove crucial at the end, like Carter’s sister’s music.”
“This is part of the Alaska program known as the innocuous sounding Permanent Fund Dividend and is the main reason why the oil companies know that Alaska residents will consistently favor oil company policies.”
Richard Arthur: Sarah Palin's Taken $125,000 Cash from Oil Companies
“Media vigilance arising from constant gate keeping has for sometime now remained futile in what media kith and kin in the learned world described as innocuous statement.”
“While many are described as innocuous, several hundred pictures, 200 to 300 by one estimate document prisoner abuse, although sources say there are multiple images of the same event.”
“B. STANTON: B.t one of the things when Christina and I talked, we said, well, let's meet at a place that is, you know, innocuous, that is, you know, it's a place that's -- either of us could leave if we decided we didn't like the person, or we couldn't trust them or that kind of thing.”
“There was a supply of innocuous story-books for the perusal of Mrs. Marston's pupils on Saturday half-holidays, innocuous, that is to say, but for the fact that they gave a completely erroneous view of life, and from them Henrietta discovered that heroines after the sixteenth birthday are likely to be pestered with adorers.”
“But the young women soon heard that their shafts passed over Kirsteen's head and fell innocuous, which is the most safe and speedy extinguisher of malice.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘innocuous’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( etymology )
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 837 more...
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SAT words
tergiversate, cymotrichous, vigilance, wince, consternation, cower, neutralize, euphony, cacophony, misanthrope, bibliophile, kleptomania and 81 more...
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Drugs
Takes 12-15 years and $800 million to bring a drug to the market. For every 10,000 compounds that go through animal studies, 10 will go to human trials (3 phases) to get 1 to the market.
In g...ephedrine, penicillin, librium, tetracycline, xenobiotic, teratogenic, labile sites, cholinergic, prostaglandin, patient compliance, GABA, barbiturates and 72 more...
veevi I was surprised that innocuous had survived from Latin but nocuous had not, when a friend suggested that it had, but was "noxious" instead. Interesting drift.
Oct 27, 2007