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convict

noun · verb

Simple meaning

To find guilty, as a result of legal proceedings, or in a moral sense.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kahnvikt

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkɑnvɪkt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. law

    A person who has been convicted of a criminal offense

  2. law

    A person convicted of a crime by a judicial body.

  3. The convict cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata), also known as the zebra cichlid, a popular aquarium fish, with stripes that resemble a prison uniform.

  4. A person deported to a penal colony.

  5. A common name for the sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus), owing to its black and gray stripes.

verb

  1. Find or declare guilty

    “The man was convicted of fraud and sentenced.”

  2. transitivelaw

    To find guilty, as a result of legal proceedings, or (informal) in a moral sense.

  3. chiefly religionethics

    To convince, persuade; to cause (someone) to believe in (something).

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Uncommon

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A person who has been convicted of a criminal offense

Used this way, convict is a specialist word with a faintly unfavourable edge. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.

Emotional tone
Slightly negative
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Critical or judgemental
Usage feel
Clinical and detached

Where it naturally appears

  • Law/legal
  • Government/politics
  • Academic writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Nearby words

  • con , more casual, better suited to speech than writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

convict laborconvict labourconvict systemconvict settlementconvict prisonsenglish convictformer convict

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • convict fishnounCompound term

    Greenling with whitish body marked with black bands.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: person who has been convicted of a criminal offense

conInformalinmate

Antonyms

Sense: find or declare guilty

acquit

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.