as in harmless
not causing or being capable of causing injury or hurt
those innocuous lies we must tell every day if society is to remain civil
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Recent Examples of innocuous
To the grandparent, the situation might seem innocuous; after all, its just one episode of television while the adults do chores.
—
Hannah Nwoko, Parents, 3 July 2025
The sidewalk on Worth Street became packed with a mix of innocuous onlookers, semi-agitated social-media hopefuls, and emotionally disturbed persons within an hour after Diddy learned his fate.
—Victoria Bekiempis, Vulture, 2 July 2025
Seemingly innocuous actions, like sharing login credentials to save time or skipping software updates, can become the first step toward a major security incident.
—Daniel Root, Forbes.com, 24 June 2025
Many of the sites used trackers in relatively innocuous ways, like counting page views.
—Colin Lecher, USA Today, 18 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for innocuous
Hannah Nwoko, Parents, 3 July 2025
The sidewalk on Worth Street became packed with a mix of innocuous onlookers, semi-agitated social-media hopefuls, and emotionally disturbed persons within an hour after Diddy learned his fate.
—Victoria Bekiempis, Vulture, 2 July 2025
Seemingly innocuous actions, like sharing login credentials to save time or skipping software updates, can become the first step toward a major security incident.
—Daniel Root, Forbes.com, 24 June 2025
Many of the sites used trackers in relatively innocuous ways, like counting page views.
—Colin Lecher, USA Today, 18 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for innocuous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for innocuous
Adjective
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In fact, the idea for the project began to take shape after Bad Shabbos producer Adam Mitchell heard about Weiner’s mother playing a harmless prank on an unsuspecting dinner guest.—
Josh Weiss,
Forbes.com,
18 July 2025
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Mites in other stages of the life cycle aren’t parasitic, so adults are harmless to humans.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
13 July 2025
Adjective
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Yet Ozzy’s voice sounded so benign and compassionate, downright vulnerable.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
23 July 2025
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Many signs of multiple myeloma are common to benign and harmless conditions, so laboratory and imaging testing are necessary to determine whether your symptoms are related to this disease.—
Anna Giorgi,
Verywell Health,
22 July 2025
Adjective
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Comprehensive cell phone analysis can be just as powerful in clearing innocent drivers by proving no user interaction occurred.—
Lars Daniel,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
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But the alternative is much worse: a world where the loss of innocent life is treated as inescapable, where no calamity can be prevented or bad situation reformed.—
Olga Khazan,
The Atlantic,
14 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Innocuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/innocuous. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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