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GRE vocabulary

innocuous

adjectiveHigh-frequency wordMore I words

not harmful or offensive

Word origin: From Latin innocuus, harmless, from nocere, to harm.

In a sentence

Innocuous in a sentence

Here are example sentences showing innocuous in a sentence.

What seemed an innocuous comment turned out to deeply offend the guests.

What began as an innocuous remark was later quoted out of context to damaging effect.

Synonyms
harmlessbenigninoffensiveinnocent
Antonyms
harmfulnoxious
Usage & nuance

Using “innocuous” well

Innocuous describes something harmless or inoffensive, often something that seems unlikely to cause trouble, and it contrasts with harmful and noxious.

Common questions

Questions about “innocuous

Innocuous (adjective) means not harmful or offensive
Here is innocuous used in an example sentence: "What seemed an innocuous comment turned out to deeply offend the guests." Another example: "What began as an innocuous remark was later quoted out of context to damaging effect."
Common synonyms for innocuous include harmless, benign, inoffensive, innocent.
Antonyms of innocuous include harmful, noxious.
Innocuous clusters with harmless, benign, inoffensive, and innocent. Its antonyms harmful and noxious mark the contrast.
Yes. Innocuous is a high-frequency GRE word, so it is worth prioritising as you build your vocabulary.

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