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.
  • Most of the hostages were innocent in the first place.
    — Miami Herald, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Younger and innocent and not clever in the least.
    — Literary Hub, 22 June 2026
  • Some of it is innocent, some of it wasn't.
    — Stephanie Giang-Paunon, FOXNews.com, 26 Sep. 2025
  • These innocent lives have no voice.
    — Ashley Hume, FOXNews.com, 13 May 2026
  • The staff was more than happy to go along with the innocent prank.
    — Seth Carnell, USA Today, 8 Sep. 2025
  • An innocent life, that was taken from this world way too soon.
    — Liza Esquibias, Peoplemag, 23 Jan. 2024
  • And in that, what is your advice to this innocent?
    — Scott Feinberg, HollywoodReporter, 11 June 2026
  • Mabu asks in a fake innocent voice, as if this isn’t all scripted.
    — Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 12 Jan. 2024
  • Above all things, my son, do not seduce innocent girls.
    — Victor J. Blue, Harpers Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025
  • Above all things, my son, do not seduce innocent girls.
    — Victor J. Blue, Harpers Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025
  • Still, all these innocent inquiries have me even more on edge.
    — Melissa Willets, Parents, 26 Feb. 2026
  • Her music seemed of a more earnest, innocent time.
    — Allison P. Davis, Vulture, 8 Sep. 2025
  • And the Method is innocent, too.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2025
  • An innocent question, but one that has plagued me.
    — Kristy Ellmer, CNBC, 31 May 2026
  • Is there no place that’s safe from all those who mean to do harm to innocent people?
    — Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2025
  • At this stage, she is still presumed innocent.
    — Becca Longmire, PEOPLE, 5 Nov. 2025
  • Now, an innocent bystander has lost their life.
    — Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 17 Feb. 2026
  • This is not to say that Zhang and Liu are innocent.
    — The Week Uk, TheWeek, 7 Feb. 2026
  • At the moment, Partey is as innocent as the rest of us here.
    — Guillermo Rai, New York Times, 17 June 2026
  • That’s not how an innocent person acts.
    — Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 23 Aug. 2025
  • Somebody has to fight for the innocent people who are left here.
    — Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 30 Sep. 2025
  • The robe across his knees also drapes the baby in innocent folds.
    — Celia Storey, Arkansas Online, 29 May 2023
  • Countless innocent lives lost, and for what?
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 11 Mar. 2026
  • Might David have opened the doors for an innocent reason?
    — Sophie Hannah, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 2026
  • All suspects are innocent until prove guilty in a court of law.
    — Marni Rose McFall, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Oct. 2025
  • As if the wide-eyed innocent who arrived here has been hardened.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 20 Feb. 2026

innocent

2 of 2 noun
  • Yes there may be some innocents caught up but no plan is perfect.
    — Maham Javaid, Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2023
  • Too many innocents too often caught in the line of deadly fire.
    — Roy S. Johnson | [email protected], al, 11 Feb. 2020
  • The case leads them down a rabbit hole where rich predators prey on the innocent.
    — Sun Sentinel, 24 Jan. 2023
  • How to root-out Hamas in a way that does not cause innocents to suffer?
    — Joe Snell, Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2023
  • As a result, tennis balls were stuck on the ends of his horns to protect the innocent.
    — Mark Price january 29, Charlotte Observer, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Cars slammed on brakes, wrenched steering wheels, and skidded in heavy traffic to avoid the innocents.
    — Sainted & Tainted Writers, Twin Cities, 29 June 2019
  • As Ukraine puts up a fierce defense Russia turns its guns on the innocent.
    — NBC News, 20 Mar. 2022
  • The group works also to fix the legal systems that convict the innocent.
    — cleveland, 7 Mar. 2022
  • Maybe their shrewd veterans can be shaken up by an untested innocent.
    — Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2022
  • Killer drones in the hands of terrorists massacring innocents.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 22 Dec. 2017
  • Some of those transgressors are innocents rather than villains.
    — Josephine Livingstone, New Republic, 4 Oct. 2017
  • There's laws that protect victims, that protect the innocent.
    — NBC news, 21 Dec. 2025
  • Of course, this leads to Hitler, Stalin, etc, and millions of dead innocents.
    — Karla Adam, Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2023
  • As the number of targets increase, danger to innocents will, too.
    — Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, 22 Sep. 2017
  • These guys are taking their lives in their hands, but any future victims of their behavior will be innocents.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 5 July 2016
  • Lulled by the presence of innocents, the president made a couple of mild funnies.
    — Kenzie Bryant, Vanities, 27 Oct. 2017
  • 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
  • And would said bear go after the thoughtless photographer or the four innocents?
    — WSJ, 2 Aug. 2018
  • The two have an appealing Mutt & Jeff chemistry, quasi-innocents in a seedy world.
    — John Defore, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Feb. 2018
  • In each and every case, the Left does not countenance any action that might protect the innocents.
    — Wilfred Reilly, National Review, 18 Oct. 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
  • And quite frankly, that calculus essentially admits that innocents are going to be hurt, but that is a price to pay.
    — Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 8 May 2026
  • It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents.
    — Margaret Talbot, New Yorker, 15 Nov. 2025
  • Biden will say this perverse arrangement is necessary to free innocents and prevent the outbreak of war.
    — Matthew Continetti, National Review, 17 June 2023
  • 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
  • Rye is a shy romantic—the quintessential innocent destined to be wised up by novel’s end.
    — Maureen Corrigan, WSJ, 23 Oct. 2020
  • Praying with your feet means to move, to advance, to take, literally, steps to make sure innocents are not gunned down in church or school by a madman.
    — Joe Soucheray, Twin Cities, 6 Sep. 2025
  • Over 5,000 deaths, most of them for innocents not driving trucks, in 2023 alone.
    — John Tamny, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026
  • The game ends when the wolves are ultimately caught—or the innocents are finally outnumbered.
    — William Herkewitz, Popular Mechanics, 28 Sep. 2019
  • Neither Sadat nor Begin were innocents or doves.
    — David Remnick, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2025

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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