# convict

Pronunciation: say "KON-vikt" US /ˈkɑnvɪkt/, UK /ˈkɒnvɪkt/

## Noun

1. A person who has been found guilty of a crime by a court and is serving a sentence.
   - Simple: Someone who has been found guilty of a crime in court and is being punished.
   - _The escaped convict was recaptured near the state border._
   - _Several convicts were transferred to a higher-security facility._
3. A person sent away to serve out a sentence in a distant penal colony.
   - Simple: A criminal who was sent far away to live and work in a distant prison settlement.
   - _The convict arrived in chains after months at sea._
   - _Boatloads of convicts were landed at the colony each year._
5. A popular striped aquarium fish (Amatitlania nigrofasciata), also called the zebra cichlid, named for stripes resembling a prison uniform.
   - Simple: A small striped aquarium fish, named because its stripes look like an old prison uniform.
   - _A breeding pair of convicts will defend their territory fiercely._
   - _The convict is one of the easiest cichlids for a new hobbyist to keep._
6. A black-and-gray-striped coastal fish (Archosargus probatocephalus), more widely known as the sheepshead.
   - Simple: A coastal fish with black and gray stripes, also called the sheepshead.
   - _A large convict put up a stubborn fight on the line._
   - _Local fishermen sell convicts at the dockside market._

## Verb

Pronunciation: say "kuhn-VIKT" /kənˈvɪkt/

2. To find someone guilty of a crime through legal proceedings, or, more loosely, to judge a person guilty in a moral sense.
   - Simple: To decide in court that someone is guilty of a crime.
   - _Prosecutors hope to convict the defendant on all three counts._
   - _Her own conscience seemed to convict her long before any verdict came._
4. To convince or persuade someone; to cause a person to believe firmly in something.
   - Simple: To make someone feel sure that something is true or that they should believe in it.
   - _Powerful preaching can convict listeners that they must change their lives._
   - _Her quiet sincerity finally convicted him that the plan would work._

## Origin

This word came through Middle English convicten and Anglo-Norman convicter from Latin convictus, the past participle of convincō ('to convict'). It is a doublet of 'convince' and replaced the native Old English forwyrċan ('to convict, condemn').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/convict (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).