Meanings
plural felonies · alternative fellonie
- UShistoricalcriminologyA serious criminal offense, which, under United States federal law, is punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than one year or by the death penalty in the most serious offenses.
There ſhall be in England, ſeuen halfe peny Loaues ſold for a peny: the three hoop'd pot, ſhall haue ten hoopes, and I vvill make it Fellony to drink ſmall Beere.
1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 138, column 24 more examples
First, as felony prosecutor, I prosecute high-level felonies including homicides; sexual assaults; child endangerings; shootings and other felonious assaults; and media cases.
2015, Kenneth J. Peak, Pamela M. Everett, Introduction to Criminal Justice: Practice and ProcessJordan Gee, 37, of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, was charged with three felony counts of threats against the president and one count of interstate threats, according to the Justice Department.
2024 May 16, Casey Gannon, “Pennsylvania man charged with threatening Biden in online video”, in CNN, archived from the original on 23 May 2025Many experts have also expressed skepticism about the significance of this case and its legal underpinnings, which employed an unusual legal theory to seek a felony charge for what is more commonly a misdemeanor, and Mr. Trump will undoubtedly seek an appeal.
2024 May 30, The Editorial Board, “Donald Trump, Felon”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 01 Jul 2024“If people can trust in him to run the country, you should trust in somebody that did their time and want to reinstate themselves,” Jeremiah says. “Especially if your leader has got 30-something felonies and I just have one.”
2024 December 15, Kaan Ozcan and Sabrina Clay, “These convicted felons say if Trump can be elected president they shouldn’t face a stigma when applying for jobs”, in CNN, archived from the original on 17 Dec 2024
Origin
- Old Frenchfelonie“evil, immoral deed”
- Middle Englishfelony
- Englishfelony
From Middle English felony, felonie, from Old French felonie (“evil, immoral deed”), from felon (“evildoer”). Ultimately of Proto-Germanic origin. More at felon. By surface analysis, felon + -y.
More words from Middle English, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic جِنَايَة
- جِنَايَة (jināya)a serious criminal offense
Bulgarian углавно престъпление
- углавно престъпление (uglavno prestăplenie)a serious criminal offense
Chinese Mandarin 重罪
- 重罪 (zhòngzuì)a serious criminal offense
Czech trestný čin, závažný trestný čin
- trestný čina serious criminal offense
- závažný trestný čina serious criminal offense
Danish forbrydelse, ulovlighed
- forbrydelsea serious criminal offense
- ulovligheda serious criminal offense
- lovovertrædelsea serious criminal offense
- brødea serious criminal offense
Dutch misdrijf, misdaad
- misdrijfa serious criminal offense
- misdaada serious criminal offense
Finnish törkeä rikos
- törkeä rikosa serious criminal offense
French crime
- crimea serious criminal offense
German Verbrechen, schwere Straftat
- Verbrechena serious criminal offense
- schwere Straftata serious criminal offense
- Schwerverbrechena serious criminal offense
- Schwerstverbrechena serious criminal offense
- Kapitalverbrechena serious criminal offense
Greek κακούργημα
- κακούργημα (kakoúrgima)a serious criminal offense
Hebrew פֶּשַׁע
- פֶּשַׁע (pésha')a serious criminal offense
Hungarian (súlyos) bűncselekmény, bűntett
- (súlyos) bűncselekménya serious criminal offense
- bűntetta serious criminal offense
Italian delitto, reato
- delittoa serious criminal offense
- reatoa serious criminal offense
Japanese 重罪
- 重罪 (jūzai)a serious criminal offense
Korean 중죄
- 중죄 (jungjoe)a serious criminal offense
Māori taihara
- taiharaa serious criminal offense
Polish ciężkie przestępstwo, zbrodnia
- ciężkie przestępstwoa serious criminal offense
- zbrodniaa serious criminal offense
Portuguese crime grave
- crime gravea serious criminal offense
Russian преступле́ние, тя́жкое уголо́вное преступле́ние
- преступле́ние (prestuplénije)a serious criminal offense
- тя́жкое уголо́вное преступле́ние (tjážkoje ugolóvnoje prestuplénije)a serious criminal offense
- тя́жкое преступле́ние (tjážkoje prestuplénije)a serious criminal offense
- уголо́вное преступле́ние (ugolóvnoje prestuplénije)a serious criminal offense
- фело́ния (felónija)a serious criminal offense
- фелони́я (feloníja)a serious criminal offense
Spanish crimen, delito
- crimena serious criminal offense
- delitoa serious criminal offense
- feloníaa serious criminal offense
Swedish feloni
- felonia serious criminal offense
Tagalog pagkakasala
- pagkakasalaa serious criminal offense
Vietnamese trọng tội
- trọng tộia serious criminal offense
Welsh ffeloniaeth
- ffeloniaetha serious criminal offense
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with felony
All rhymes →Cite this entry
felony. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/felony
“felony.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/felony. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “felony,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/felony.
Source: felony on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.