innocency

English

Etymology

From Latin innocēntia, from innocēns (“innocent”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪnəsənsi/

Noun

innocency (countable and uncountable, plural innocencies)

1. (uncountable, archaic) Synonym of innocence:
   1. Harmlessness.
      • 1646, Thomas Browne, chapter II, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: [...] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 5:

        That Glass is poison, according unto common conceit, I know not how to grant. Not onely from the innocency of its ingredients [...]

   2. Lack of deceit or guile; simplicity.
   3. The state of being free from guilt or moral wrong.
      • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 11, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: [...] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

        The verie names of Goodnesse and innocentie, are for this respect in some sort names of contempt.

      • 1629, Joseph Hall, The Reconciler:

        And let the wilful or ignorant mistakers know, that they wound innocency.

2. (countable, archaic) An innocent idea or thing; an innocence.
   • 1902, William James, “Lectures IV and V: The Religion of Healthy-mindedness”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature [...] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 80:

     It is to be hoped that we all have some friend, [...] whose affinities are rather with flowers and birds and all enchanting innocencies, than with dark human passions, [...]

References

• “innocency”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.