Other forms: convicted, convicts, convicting
To convict somebody is to find them guilty of a crime in court. Convicted of fraud, convict him, a conviction was secured.
The stress is on the second syllable for the verb — con-VICT — and on the first for the noun, a convict, meaning somebody serving a sentence. Convicted of is the standard construction. The noun is strongly associated with the transportation of convicts to Australia between 1788 and 1868, which is a large part of Australian history and vocabulary. Note conviction, which also means a firm belief — a woman of strong convictions.
1verbconvictTo find somebody guilty of a crime.
“He was convicted on the evidence of one witness.”
2nounservingSomebody serving a prison sentence.
“The convicts built most of the roads in that colony.”
convict is a finding of guilt.
It is the same word as convince, taken all the way. To convict is to convince the court, and the man goes to prison for it.
hooks ontoconvince
Latin convincere means to prove wrong or overcome — con-, thoroughly, plus vincere, to conquer. Convince and convict are the same verb: one convinces a person of an argument and convicts them of a crime.
Proto-Indo-European
*weyk-
Latin
convictus
Anglo-Norman
convicter
Middle English
convicten
English, today
convict
Built from
From Middle English convicten, from Anglo-Norman convicter, from Latin convictus, the past participle of convincō (“to convict”). a doublet of convince. Displaced native forwyrċan.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA