felonious
Americanadjective
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Law. pertaining to, of the nature of, or involving a felony.
felonious homicide; felonious intent.
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wicked; base; villainous.
adjective
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criminal law of, involving, or constituting a felony
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obsolete wicked; base
Other Word Forms
- feloniously adverb
- feloniousness noun
- nonfelonious adjective
- nonfeloniously adverb
- nonfeloniousness noun
- unfelonious adjective
- unfeloniously adverb
Etymology
Origin of felonious
1375–1425; felony + -ous; replacing late Middle English felonous < Anglo-French, Old French
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
We thought flopping and foul-baiting made for unethical hoops, but those are but basketball misdemeanors; Adebayo’s big night was felonious.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2026
It may not have been felonious enough to demand civil punishment, but it certainly required banishment from the game and from any of its rewards.
From Salon • Jun. 13, 2025
"We qualify such a felonious deed as a crime - as an act of dehumanisation," Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Radio Sputnik.
From Reuters • Oct. 18, 2023
A state trooper in Michigan has been acquitted by a jury after being charged with felonious assault for using a police dog to subdue an unarmed, injured man in 2020, prosecutors said.
From New York Times • Aug. 10, 2023
It helps, though, to read with a felonious mind.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
