conviction

con·vic·tion

noun \kən-ˈvik-shən\

Definition of CONVICTION

1

: the act or process of finding a person guilty of a crime especially in a court of law

2

a : the act of convincing a person of error or of compelling the admission of a truth

b : the state of being convinced of error or compelled to admit the truth

3

a : a strong persuasion or belief

b : the state of being convinced

Examples of CONVICTION

1. She hopes to avoid conviction.
2. In light of the evidence, a conviction seems certain.
3. He has three prior drunk-driving convictions.
4. Convictions for shoplifting have made it difficult for her to get a job.
5. a person of deep convictions
6. They share my strong conviction that the policy is misguided.
7. … a perfect example, I told Bobby, … why Realtors have to be prepared to work holidays. “Well, yeah,” he said, utterly without conviction. —Jane Smiley, Good Faith, 2003
8. It was his conviction that if the words in the story were blurred because of the author's insensitivity, carelessness, or sentimentality, then the story suffered from a tremendous handicap. —Raymond Carver, The Story and Its Writer, edited by Ann Charters, 1987
9. She spoke in … the voice which people often used to express their deepest convictions … —Paula Fox, A Servant's Tale, 1984
10. Certainly the basis of our democracy is the conviction of the worth of the individual. —Robert Penn Warren, Democracy and Poetry, (1975) 1976

Origin of CONVICTION

(see ²convict)

First Known Use: 15th century

Related to CONVICTION

Synonyms

assurance, assuredness, certainty, certitude, cocksureness, confidence, doubtlessness, face, positiveness, satisfaction, sureness, surety

Antonyms

doubt, incertitude, nonconfidence, uncertainty

Related Words

authoritarianism, dogmatism; decisiveness, determination, firmness, purposefulness, resoluteness, resolution, resolve

Near Antonyms

hesitancy, hesitation, indecisiveness, irresolution; disbelief, incredulity, unbelief; anxiety, concern, misgiving; distrust, mistrust, suspicion

See Synonym Discussion at certainty, opinion

Other Legal Terms

actionable, alienable, carceral, chattel, complicity, decedent, larceny, malfeasance, modus operandi

Rhymes with CONVICTION

addiction, affliction, confliction, constriction, depiction, eviction, indiction, infliction, nonfiction, prediction, reliction, restriction, transfixion