inocente
adjectiveCEFR B2
What does “inocente” mean in English?
innocent — not guilty of a crime; also: lacking malicious intent
innocent — not guilty of a crime; also: lacking malicious intent (acusado inocente, pregunta inocente)
Example sentences
El sistema judicial debe garantizar la presunción de inocencia hasta que se demuestre lo contrario mediante pruebas fiables.
The judicial system must guarantee the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise through reliable evidence.
No fue una pregunta inocente: detrás de su aparente ingenuidad había una clara intención de desestabilizar al testigo.
It was not an innocent question: behind its apparent naivety there was a clear intention to destabilise the witness.
How to use it
Inocente means 'innocent' — not guilty of an offence; also: naive or without malicious intent. Two senses: legal (declarado inocente) and evaluative (pregunta inocente, apariencia inocente). Ser/estar: ser for legal status ('es inocente'); estar in some contexts ('está inocente de ese cargo'). Important set phrase: presunción de inocencia.
Common mistake
Inocente ≠ ingenuo: ingenuo means naive or credulous; inocente means not guilty or without malicious intent. They overlap in the naive sense, but inocente carries the primary legal meaning that ingenuo does not.