conviction

From late Middle English conviction, from Anglo-Norman conviction, from Latin convictiō, from convictus, the past participle of convincō (“to convict”).

• IPA^(key): /kənˈvɪkʃən/

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conviction (countable and uncountable, plural convictions)

1. (countable) A firmly held belief.
   • 1897, Marie Corelli, “Chapter I”, in Ziska: The Problem of a Wicked Soul, New York: Stone & Kimball, page 27:

     "...I imagined...that the husband of the lady might very easily be in Russia while his wife's health might necessitate her wintering in Egypt..." "But my mother thinks not. My mother thinks there is not a husband at all,—that there never was a husband. In fact my mother has very strong convictions on the subject..."

2. (countable) A judgement of guilt in a court of law.
   • 2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in Guardian‎:

     He said Robins had not been in trouble with the law before and had no previous convictions. Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.

3. (uncountable) The state of being wholly convinced.
   • 1825, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Aphorisms on that which is indeed spiritual religion”, in Aids to Reflection‎, page 198:

     Analogies are used in aid of Conviction: Metaphors, as means of Illustration.

   • 2013 August 14, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian‎:

     The visitors were being pinned back by the end of the first half. Yet Gordon Strachan's side played with great conviction and always had a chance of springing a surprise when their opponents were so susceptible at the back.

4. (uncountable) The state of being found or proved guilty.
   • 1902, Illinois. Auditor's Office, Report of the Auditor of Public Accounts, page 6:

     From G. R. Ratts , Game Warden , fines collected on conviction of violation of State game law .

   • 1943, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, Loss of Nationality and Citizenship Bacause of Conviction of Desertion from The Armed Forces, page 6:

     I do not know of any Federal statute which carries with it forfeiture of citizenship or civil rights except this one that we are discussing, which is conviction of desertion committed in time of war and conviction of treason.

   • 1976, United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Criminal Jurisdiction in Indian Country, page 44:

     Thus, the argument continues, federal prosecutors would be motivated to seek Major Crimes Act indictments in marginal cases because they could be relatively certain of getting some conviction.

   • 1994, West's Florida statutes annotated, page 107:

     Where evidence in prosecution for larceny of two doors of the value of more than $50.00 sustained verdict that defendant had stolen the doors but was insufficient to establish that the doors were worth $50.00 or more, conviction of grand larceny would be reduced, on appeal to conviction of petit larceny.

   • 2009, Chester Porter, The Conviction of the Innocent:

     The rush to convict suspects on weak evidence may well lead not only to conviction of the innocent, but also to the release of the guilty from liability for the crime, as occurred in the famous Alfred Dreyfus case, which I shall discuss later.

• See also Thesaurus:obstinacy

• convict

Borrowed from Latin convictiōnem.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.vik.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

• Homophone: convictions
• Hyphenation: con‧vic‧tion

conviction f (plural convictions)

1. conviction

• pièce à conviction

• convaincre

• “conviction”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.