convict
Juries convict convict criminals based on evidence.
The sentence describes how juries find imprisoned offenders guilty of crimes based on evidence.
Meanings
to declare a person guilty of a criminal offense, typically through legal proceedings
- The jury convicted him of fraud.
- She was convicted on three counts of perjury.
a person serving a prison sentence after being declared guilty of a crime
- The convict was paroled after fifteen years.
- Escaped convicts triggered a state-wide manhunt.
Word origin
From Latin convictus, past participle of convincere ('to overcome, prove guilty'), formed from com- (intensifier) + vincere ('to conquer'). The same Latin root produces 'convince' — to 'convict' someone is to overcome their innocence with evidence; to 'convince' is to overcome their disbelief with argument. The trochaic noun rule produces the modern stress shift.
Fun fact
The verb 'convict' and the verb 'convince' share the same Latin root — both come from convincere ('to overcome'). The split happened in Late Latin: 'to convict' overcame guilt; 'to convince' overcame doubt. The noun 'convict' (a person) is much later, an early-modern English coinage from the verb.