conviction
[kuhn-vik-shuhn]
- a fixed or firm belief: No clever argument, no persuasive fact or theory could make a dent in his conviction in the rightness of his position.
- the act of convicting someone, as in a court of law; a declaration that a person is guilty of an offense.
- the state of being convicted.
- the act of convincing a person by argument or evidence.
- the state of being convinced.
Show More
Origin of conviction
Synonym study
1. See belief.
Antonyms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
faith, confidence, sentiment, principle, feeling, view, eye, reliance, creed, mind, slant, tenet, dogma, doctrine, persuasion, certitude, sureness, assuredness, earnestness, certaintyExamples from the Web for convictions
Contemporary Examples
His decision to stick to his convictions on Thursday is no doubt positive news for them.
You have to admire his convictions; most frustrated auteurs in this town just call such things “an Alan Smithee project.”
Sakurai, the leader, has an arrest record but no convictions.
For Top Pols In Japan Crime Doesn’t Pay, But Hate Crime DoesJake Adelstein, Angela Erika Kubo
September 26, 2014
And though as on that day in 1960, the students marching through Nashville this weekend were silent, their convictions are loud.
But despite these efforts, the court has only completed 18 trials in the past four years, with just a handful of convictions.
Historical Examples
Such have been, and are, my convictions, and upon them I shall act.
It was all in vain, he confesses; he could not alter the convictions of the Empress.
Camps, Quarters and Casual PlacesArchibald Forbes
It is wise, and may be useful, on all proper occasions, to avow our convictions.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. IFrancis Augustus Cox
But if I had Beaufort Court, my convictions would be all the other way.
Night and Morning, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
I've always said that the Tories have the courage of the Liberals' convictions!
Changing WindsSt. John G. Ervine
conviction
- the state or appearance of being convinced
- a fixed or firmly held belief, opinion, etc
- the act of convincing
- the act or an instance of convicting or the state of being convicted
- carry conviction to be convincing
Show More
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for convictions
n.
"those ideas which one believes to be true," 1883, plural of conviction.
Show More
conviction
n.
mid-15c., "the proving of guilt," from Late Latin convictionem (nominative convictio) "proof, refutation," noun of action from past participle stem of convincere (see convince). Meaning "mental state of being convinced" is from 1690s; that of "firm belief, a belief held as proven" is from 1841.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with convictions
conviction
see courage of one's convictions.
Show More
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.