CONVICTION

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(criminal law) a final judgment of guilty in a criminal case and the punishment that is imposed

Example:

the conviction came as no surprise

Synonyms:

condemnation; conviction; judgment of conviction; sentence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("conviction" is a kind of...):

final decision; final judgment (a judgment disposing of the case before the court; after the judgment (or an appeal from it) is rendered all that remains is to enforce the judgment)

Domain category:

criminal law (the body of law dealing with crimes and their punishment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "conviction"):

murder conviction (conviction for murder)

rape conviction (conviction for rape)

robbery conviction (conviction for robbery)

Antonym:

acquittal (a judgment of not guilty)

Derivation:

convict (find or declare guilty)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An unshakable belief in something without need for proof or evidence

Synonyms:

article of faith; conviction; strong belief

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("conviction" is a kind of...):

belief (any cognitive content held as true)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "conviction"):

amateurism (the conviction that people should participate in sports as a hobby (for the fun of it) rather than for money)

Credits

Context examples:

Anne did not receive the perfect conviction which the Admiral meant to convey, but it would have been useless to press the enquiry farther.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Elizabeth’s heart-rending eloquence failed to move the judges from their settled conviction in the criminality of the saintly sufferer.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

She believed the regard to be mutual; but she required greater certainty of it to make Marianne's conviction of their attachment agreeable to her.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Having Mars in your sign is considered a big plus, for Mars will give you the courage to voice your ideas and present them with conviction.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Alleyne looked at her in astonishment, for her cheek was flushed, her eyes gleaming, and her whole pose full of eloquence and conviction.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Another minute, and she will despise me for a hypocrite," thought I; and an impulse of fury against Reed, Brocklehurst, and Co. bounded in my pulses at the conviction.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“They are only too clear,” I answered with conviction.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Along with his humbleness because he knew so little, there arose a conviction of power.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The conviction that the crime is a very peculiar one.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The boy’s chamber was carefully examined, and yielded nothing save the absolute conviction that it was only through the window that he could have escaped.