innocence
Lack of guilt
Innocence is the state of being free from guilt, sin, or wrongdoing.
A defendant maintains their innocence; a child possesses innocence before exposure to the world's harsher realities.
The word carries connotations of purity, naivety, and lack of experience: She spoke with such innocence about the situation.
To lose one's innocence is to become aware of evil, cruelty, or complexity—often through direct experience.
Innocence can also mean harmlessness: the innocence of the remark.
Abstaining from sexual activity
- virginityAbsence of carnal experience
- untouchedNot contacted or affected
- immaculateCompletely without blemish
- unblemishedFree from any defect
pristine · unsullied · undefiled · wholesomeness · sanctity · spotless · cleanliness · untarnished
Formal clearing of charges
- exonerationOfficial clearing of blame
- blamelessFree of wrongdoing
- clearedFound not guilty
- vindicationClearance of blame
defendant · verdict · wrongful · charges · presumption · proven · testimony · evidence
Moral goodness or merit
- righteousnessMoral correctness or virtue
- conscienceInternal moral sense
- integrityMoral soundness and consistency
- incorruptibilityImmunity to moral compromise
uprightness · goodness · purity · sinlessness · blamelessness · faultless · guiltless · irreproachable
Easily deceived
- credulousProne to blind trust
- trustingInclined to believe others
- unsuspectingNot anticipating danger
- inexperiencedLacking practical knowledge
unworldly · ingenuous · callow · impressionable · unsophisticated · unquestioning · wide-eyed · sheltered
Truly what it claims
- artlessLacking deceit or cunning
- candidHonest and direct
- unaffectedNot changed or influenced
- unpretentiousLacking false superiority
transparent · heartfelt · earnest · honest · natural · open · frank · unassuming
chastity
Abstaining from sexual activity
- virginityAbsence of carnal experience
- untouchedNot contacted or affected
- immaculateCompletely without blemish
unblemished · pristine · unsullied · undefiled · wholesomeness · sanctity · spotless · cleanliness · untarnished · maiden
acquittal
Formal clearing of charges
- exonerationOfficial clearing of blame
- blamelessFree of wrongdoing
- clearedFound not guilty
vindication · defendant · verdict · wrongful · charges · presumption · proven · testimony · evidence · alibi
virtue
Moral goodness or merit
- righteousnessMoral correctness or virtue
- conscienceInternal moral sense
- integrityMoral soundness and consistency
incorruptibility · uprightness · goodness · purity · sinlessness · blamelessness · faultless · guiltless · irreproachable · unimpeachable
gullible
Easily deceived
- credulousProne to blind trust
- trustingInclined to believe others
- unsuspectingNot anticipating danger
inexperienced · unworldly · ingenuous · callow · impressionable · unsophisticated · unquestioning · wide-eyed · sheltered · lamb
genuine
Truly what it claims
- artlessLacking deceit or cunning
- candidHonest and direct
- unaffectedNot changed or influenced
unpretentious · transparent · heartfelt · earnest · honest · natural · open · frank · unassuming · unstudied
playground
Children's outdoor recreation space
kindergarten · sandbox · teddybear · toys · fairytales · naptime · crayons · playdate · piggyback · bubblegum
- justicecourtroom, trials, retributive justice, courts, gavel
- legallawyer, judge, jury, trial, verdict
- childhood themeschildhood trauma, nostalgia, imagination, play, friendship
- children's poetrynursery rhymes, bedtime poems, silly rhymes, moral lessons, imagination
- coming-of-agecoming-of-age, bildungsroman, growing up, maturation, youth
- innocencepurity, pure, blameless, naive, naivety
innocenceguilt
Moral self-reproach
culpability · guiltiness · blameworthiness · criminality · blame
innocencecorruption
Dishonest abuse of power
depravity · wickedness · evil · sinfulness · immorality
innocenceworldliness
Secular, experienced outlook
experience · sophistication · cynicism · jadedness · world-weariness
- innocent bystanderUninvolved person harmed incidentally
- loss of innocenceEnd of childhood naivety
- innocent man
- childhood innocenceUntainted early-life simplicity
- innocent as a lambUtterly free from wrongdoing
- guilty or innocentCriminal trial outcomes