convict Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a person serving a sentence in a jail or prison
inmate; yard bird; yardbird; con.
noun a person who has been convicted of a criminal offense
verb find or declare guilty
- The man was convicted of fraud and sentenced

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.

A person proved guilty of a crime alleged against him; one legally convicted or sentenced to punishment for some crime.
A criminal sentenced to penal servitude. Syn. -- Malefactor; culprit; felon; criminal.

imperfect & past participle Convicted; present participle & verbal noun Convicting

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.
To prove or show to be false; to confute; to refute. Obs. Sir T. Browne.
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.
To defeat; to doom to destruction. Obs.
A whole armado of convicted sail. Shak.
Syn. -- To confute; defect; convince; confound.