convict

[verb, adjective kuh n-vikt; noun kon-vikt]

verb (used with object)

to prove or declare guilty of an offense, especially after a legal trial: to convict a prisoner of a felony.

to impress with a sense of guilt.

noun

a person proved or declared guilty of an offense.

a person serving a prison sentence.

adjective

Archaic. convicted.

Origin of convict

1350–1400; (v.) Middle English convicten < Latin convictus past participle of convincere, equivalent to con- con- + vic- variant stem of vincere to overcome + -tus past participle suffix (see convince); (noun, adj.) Middle English convict, past participle of convicten (or directly < L)

Related formscon·vict·a·ble, con·vict·i·ble, adjectivecon·vic·tive, adjectivecon·vic·tive·ly, adverbhalf-con·vict·ed, adjectivepre·con·vict, verb (used with object)re·con·vict, verb (used with object)self-con·vict·ed, adjectiveun·con·vict·ed, adjectiveun·con·vict·ing, adjectiveun·con·vic·tive, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for unconvicted

Contemporary Examples of unconvicted

The question then is whether the untried and unconvicted Guantanamo inmates require that level of security?
A Fate Worse Than Gitmo
Gerald L. Shargel
December 22, 2009
Do the untried and unconvicted Guantanamo inmates require this level of security?
A Fate Worse Than Gitmo
Gerald L. Shargel
December 22, 2009

Historical Examples of unconvicted

Other actors in the drama, unconvicted, are also dead or nameless wanderers.
The Story of the Outlaw
Emerson Hough
Unconvicted, but not unsuspected; uncondemned, but not unblemished.
The Catholic World; Vol. IV.; October, 1866, to March, 1867.
E. Rameur
Habitual thieves convicted and unconvicted are listed at 60.
Crime: Its Cause and Treatment
Clarence Darrow
If I have offended against the law it will punish me, but it gives you no right to use me ill, unheard, and unconvicted.
Lives Of The Most Remarkable Criminals Who have been Condemned and Executed for Murder, the Highway, Housebreaking, Street Robberies, Coining or other offences
Arthur L. Hayward
Then in a kind of cold despair he laid hold upon a large sum and left the bank an unconvicted felon.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald

British Dictionary definitions for unconvicted

convict

verb (kənˈvɪkt) (tr)

to pronounce (someone) guilty of an offence

noun (ˈkɒnvɪkt)

a person found guilty of an offence against the law, esp one who is sentenced to imprisonment

a person serving a prison sentence

adjective (kənˈvɪkt)

obsolete convicted

Derived Formsconvictable or convictible, adjective

Word Origin for convict

C14: from Latin convictus convicted of crime, from convincere to prove guilty, convince

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 unconvicted

convict

mid-14c., from Latin convictus, past participle of convincere "to 'overcome' in argument" (see convince). Replaced Old English verb oferstælan. Related: Convicted; convicting.

convict

late 15c., from convict (v). Slang shortening con is from 1893.