innocuous | innocuousness | innocuously
Exam frequency
GRE
high
Banks
high
Civil Services
high
Meaning(s)
not likely to give offence or cause harm
How to Memorize
innocuous - harmless
Analysis
Something ‘innocuous’ is considered to be relatively inoffensive or unlikely to lead to a negative outcome. However, the word is most commonly used in the context of expressing that something appeared harmless or innocent, but ended up being anything but that.
| Exams | Spoken | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synonyms | inoffensive,innoxious | ||
| Antonyms | destructive |
Example(s)
I can’t believe that Sarah broke her leg. Her fall looked so innocuous!
Many in the office don’t believe Jane should have been fired considering the innocuousness of her alleged offence.
It all started quite innocuously. We just met to discuss the plans and then it quickly descended into a full-scale argument.