How to Use innocuous in a Sentence

innocuous

adjective
  • He told a few innocuous jokes.
  • But not all the fires were as innocuous as that of 1969.
    Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, 19 June 2019
  • The blood in the van could have come from an injury as innocuous as a bloody nose, O’Connor said.
    David Owens, courant.com, 24 Jan. 2018
  • And all this around an innocuous pair of Tabi-toed Mary-Janes.
    Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 6 Sep. 2023
  • What may seem innocuous at the time could lead to larger problems down the road.
    Marc Zalmanoff, Forbes, 29 June 2022
  • Many of the counts appear, on the surface, to be somewhat innocuous.
    Christian Boone, ajc, 4 May 2021
  • But the defense has tried to show it all as innocuous, or even wholesome.
    Jason Meisner, chicagotribune.com, 17 Sep. 2021
  • Most of the tips that come in to his department are found to be innocuous, Koren said.
    Madeline Holcombe, CNN, 18 Aug. 2019
  • The small trees, which look so innocuous, have in fact become a lifeline.
    Mary Holland, Robb Report, 22 Apr. 2023
  • The episode opens with a scene that appears pretty innocuous.
    Scott D. Pierce, The Salt Lake Tribune, 31 Oct. 2021
  • Looks like an innocuous piece of lifestyle brand spon-con, right?
    Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 9 Nov. 2021
  • Rich asked a rep to school the group on this seemingly innocuous baking spice.
    Mike Dang, Longreads, 1 Nov. 2017
  • Early in the second, the Panthers took the lead on a seemingly innocuous play.
    Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Nov. 2022
  • This sounds innocuous: no middle class family will pay more than 7% of pay for the cost of child care.
    Elizabeth Bauer, Forbes, 28 Sep. 2021
  • The most recent episode of Inside Amy Schumer was a fairly innocuous one.
    Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 19 Oct. 2022
  • The reasons for the differences were innocuous, as well.
    Rick Klein, ABC News, 4 Jan. 2022
  • An innocuous header from Perisic found its way to Mandzukic, who this time didn't miss.
    SI.com, 11 July 2018
  • Of course, they can be used in fairly standard, innocuous ways.
    Louise Matsakis, WIRED, 25 Apr. 2018
  • Sorry to be the bearers of bad news, but not even summertime dips in the pool are innocuous anymore.
    Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 2 July 2019
  • Anything could set West off, sources say, and the reasons could be as innocuous as wearing the wrong color.
    Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 10 Nov. 2022
  • The New York Times’ report on the matter offers only Alden’s point of view, which sounds innocuous enough at first blush.
    Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 15 Oct. 2022
  • The act of taking a prescription pill can seem innocuous.
    Zachary Siegel, The New Republic, 27 June 2023
  • The most innocuous of attire, the basic yoga pant, has once again come under fire.
    Colleen Kratofil, PEOPLE.com, 19 Feb. 2018
  • For a while, the two liked one another’s photos and left innocuous comments.
    Jenny Block, New York Times, 21 Oct. 2022
  • But one of the most important things he's received in support may seem innocuous to most.
    Gabrielle Bunton, The Courier-Journal, 9 June 2021
  • But his press conference answers stayed on a very safe and innocuous path, sticking to the relevance of the themes explored in the film.
    Tatiana Siegel, Rolling Stone, 12 Sep. 2022
  • Then there were some rote questions and answers about life in prison, innocuous talk about my sister’s two teenage sons.
    Christian Wiman, Harper’s Magazine , 14 Dec. 2022
  • At times, an action may seem innocuous, but its impact may be great.
    Rabbi Avi Weiss, Sun Sentinel, 12 Dec. 2022
  • Most of these were horoscope skills that seemed fairly innocuous.
    Courtney Linder, Popular Mechanics, 16 Nov. 2019
  • The Watergate cake, retro as shag carpet and innocuous as the Carpenters, is all about ease.
    Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 7 June 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'innocuous.' 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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