Adjacent Words

Convict definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONVICT, v.t. [L., to vanquish or subdue. See Convince.]
1. To determine the truth of a charge against one; to prove or find guilty of a crime charged; to determine or decide to be guilty, as by the verdict of a jury, by confession, or other legal decision. The jury convicted the prisoner of felony.
2. To convince of sin; to prove or determine to be guilty, as by the conscience.
They who heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one. John 8.
3. To confute; to prove or show to be false.
4. To show by proof or evidence.
CONVICT, pp. For convicted. Proved or found guilty.
CONVICT, n. A person proved or found guilty of a crime alledged against him, either by the verdict of a jury or other legal decision.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a person serving a sentence in a jail or prison [syn: convict, con, inmate, yard bird, yardbird]
2: a person who has been convicted of a criminal offense v
1: find or declare guilty; "The man was convicted of fraud and sentenced" [ant: acquit, assoil, clear, discharge, exculpate, exonerate]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Date: 14th century archaic having been convicted II. verb Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French convicter, from Latin convictus, past participle of convincere to refute, convict Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to find or prove to be guilty 2. to convince of error or sinfulness intransitive verb to find a defendant guilty III. noun Date: 15th century 1. a person convicted of and under sentence for a crime 2. a person serving a usually long prison sentence

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. 1 (often foll. by of) prove to be guilty (of a crime etc.). 2 declare guilty by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge. --n. 1 a person found guilty of a criminal offence. 2 chiefly hist. a person serving a prison sentence, esp. in a penal colony. Etymology: ME f. L convincere convict- (as COM-, vincere conquer): noun f. obs. convict convicted

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Convict Con*vict", p.a. [L. convictus, p. p. of convincere to convict, prove. See Convice.] Proved or found guilty; convicted. [Obs.] --Shak. Convict by flight, and rebel to all law. --Milton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Convict Con"vict, n. 1. A person proved guilty of a crime alleged against him; one legally convicted or sentenced to punishment for some crime. 2. A criminal sentenced to penal servitude. Syn: Malefactor; culprit; felon; criminal.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Convict Con*vict", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Convicted; p. pr. & vb. n. Convicting.] 1. To prove or find guilty of an offense or crime charged; to pronounce guilty, as by legal decision, or by one's conscience. He [Baxter] . . . had been convicted by a jury. --Macaulay. They which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one. --John viii. 9. 2. To prove or show to be false; to confute; to refute. [Obs.] --Sir T. Browne. 3. To demonstrate by proof or evidence; to prove. Imagining that these proofs will convict a testament, to have that in it which other men can nowhere by reading find. --Hooker. 4. To defeat; to doom to destruction. [Obs.] A whole armado of convicted sail. --Shak. Syn: To confute; defect; convince; confound.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(convicted) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If someone is convicted of a crime, they are found guilty of that crime in a law court. In 1977 he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment... There was insufficient evidence to convict him. ...a convicted drug dealer. VERB: be V-ed of n/-ing, V n, V-ed 2. A convict is someone who is in prison. (JOURNALISM) = prisoner N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Prove or find guilty. 2. Convince (of sin), make sensible, rouse to a sense. II. n. Malefactor, criminal, felon, culprit, condemned person.

Moby Thesaurus

Judas, POW, acquit, anathematize, assure, attaint, be convincing, betrayer, blacklist, bring home to, bring over, bring round, bring to reason, cageling, captive, carry conviction, censure, chain gang, con, condemn, convert, convince, criminal, crook, damn, deceiver, denounce, denunciate, desperado, desperate criminal, detenu, doom, double-dealer, drive home to, ex-convict, excommunicate, felon, find guilty, fugitive, gallows bird, gangster, gaolbird, inspire belief, internee, jailbird, lag, lawbreaker, lead to believe, lifer, loser, mobster, outlaw, parolee, pass sentence, pass sentence on, penalize, persuade, political prisoner, prisoner, prisoner of war, pronounce judgment, pronounce sentence, proscribe, public enemy, quisling, racketeer, recidivist, repeater, satisfy, scofflaw, sell, sell one on, sentence, stir bird, swindler, talk over, thief, thug, ticket-of-leave man, ticket-of-leaver, traitor, trusty, two-timer, win over