Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
felonious

felonious

9 8.5
Relating to a serious crime or showing intent to commit one
  • adjective
  • /fəˈloʊniəs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : delictivo
  • Now stop this felonious and unlawful act or I shall have to use force.
  • felonious assault

Examples

  • By his sixteenth birthday, he had been convicted in juvenile courts of more than a dozen violent and felonious crimes.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • One of them did six months for felonious assault.

    The Paper (1994)

  • The man was arrested and charged with felonious assault.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Inmate Jory Hall, 23, of Sandusky, was charged with felonious assault for the alleged assault on Frederick.

    Blog text (15)

  • Karenga was sentenced to prison in 1971 on multiple charges of conspiracy and felonious assault in the beatings of two twenty-year-old women, both former members of US.

    Academic text (2001)

  • The defendant faced serious penalties for his felonious actions during the robbery.

  • Authorities are investigating reports of felonious behavior linked to the recent break-ins.

  • The court classified his crime as felonious, which could lead to a lengthy prison sentence.

Synonyms

criminal
vsfelonious
∞ 2.8

About illegal actions or being guilty of a crime

refers only to very serious crimes that are classified as felonies

How Illegal

felonious
  • Specialized
9 8.5
illegal
∞ 1.0
lawful
  • Formal
82 2.9

Surface Forms

felonious positive

Morphology

felonious = felon (transparent) = felon + ious

The adjective is directly formed from the noun 'felon' with the productive adjectival suffix '-ious', yielding the meaning 'relating to or characteristic of a felony/felon'.

Etymology

The word felonious comes from the old word felon, meaning 'criminal', and is the same root as felony. So, if something is felonious, it is 'relating to a serious crime'.