Word.ws English Dictionary

felon

Syllables: fel·on/ˈfɛlən/

felon adjective: of a person or animal, their actions, thoughts, etc.: brutal, cruel, harsh, heartless; also, evil, wicked.

Adjective

felon

  1. (poetic) Of a person or animal, their actions, thoughts, etc.: brutal, cruel, harsh, heartless; also, evil, wicked.
    • For Courteſies, tho' undeſerv'd and great, / No gratitude in Fellon-minds beget, / As tribute to his VVit, the churl receives the treat.1687, [John Dryden], “The Third Part”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 138
    • And tvventy youths in radiant mail incas'd, / Cloſe ambuſh'd nigh the ſpacious hall he plac'd. / Then bids prepare the hoſpitable treat: / Vain ſhevvs of love to veil his felon hate!1725, Homer, “Book IV”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 187, lines 709–712
  2. (broadly) Of a place: harsh, savage, wild; of a thing: deadly; harmful.
    • He ask'd the VVaves, and ask'd the Fellon vvinds, / VVhat hard miſhap hath doom'd this gentle ſvvain?1637 (date written; published 1638), John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 61
    • Thus often unbelief grovvn ſick of life, / Flies to the tempting pool or felon knife, / The jury meet, the coroner is ſhort, / And lunacy the verdict of the court: […]1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 95
  3. (obsolete, rare) Obtained through a felony; stolen.
    • Thus hee that conquer’d men, and beaſt moſt cruell, / (VVhoſe greedy pavves, vvith fellon goods vvere found) / Anſvver’d Goliah’s challenge in a duell, / And layd the Giant groveling on the ground: […]1631, Thomas Fuller, “Davids Hainous Sinne. Stanza 19.”, in Davids Hainous Sinne. Heartie Repentance. Heavie Punishment, London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC; republished London...

Noun (1)

felon (plural felons)

  1. (criminal law) A person who has committed a felony (“a serious criminal offence”); specifically, one who has been tried and convicted of such a crime.
    • I doe defie thy coniurations: / And doe attach thee as a fellon heere.c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], signature K, verso
    • And therefore they are but like the Fellon that ſtandeth before the Judge, he quakes and trembles, and ſeems to repent most heartily; but the bottom of all is, the fear of the Halter, not of any deteſtation of the offence; as is evident, becauſe, let but this man have his liberty, and he vvill be a...1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, pages 215–216
  2. (obsolete) An evil or wicked person.
    • But he, the King of Heav'n, obſcure on high, / Bar'd his red Arm, and launching from the Sky / His vvrithen Bolt, not ſhaking empty Smoak, / Dovvn to the deep Abyſs the flaming Felon ſtrook.1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 386, lines...
    • The master'd felon press'd the ground, / And gasp'd beneath a mortal wound, / While o'er him stands the Bruce.1815, Walter Scott, “Canto Third”, in The Lord of the Isles, a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co....
  3. (broadly, obsolete) A predatory animal regarded as cruel or wicked.

Noun (2)

felon (plural felons)

  1. A small infected sore; an abscess, a boil.
    1. (often, specifically) A whitlow (“infection near or under a fingernail or toenail”).
      • He hev been away from home for a few days, since he's had that felon upon his finger; for a' said, since I can't work I'll have a hollerday.1874, Thomas Hardy, “In the Sun—a Harbinger”, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 31

felon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

felon in Hindi

felon
आततायी ātatāyī

felon in Tamil

விரல் முனை சீழ் அழற்சி

felon in Urdu

دھوکے باز, درشت, مجرم, زخم

felon in Bengali

ঘোর অপরাধী
More languagesFewer languages
felon in Kannada
ಕೊಲೆಗಾರ, ಕೇಡಿಗ, ಸೆರಗ
felon in Malay
penjenayah berat
felon in Indonesian
narapidana

Examples of felon in a sentence

  • Nor outvvard Tempeſt, nor corroſive Time, / Nought but the felon undermining Hand / Of dark Corruption, can it's Frame diſſolve, / And lay the Toil of Ages in the duſt.1736, [James] Thomson, Britain: Being the Fourth Part of Liberty, a Poem, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 83, lines 1188–1191:
  • Yes, Leila sleeps beneath the wave, / But his shall be a redder grave; / Her spirit pointed well the steel / Which taught that felon heart to feel.1813, Lord Byron, The Giaour, a Fragment of a Turkish Tale, London: […] T[homas] Davison, […], for John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 20:
  • The hand that mingled in the meal, / At midnight drew the felon steel, / And gave the host's kind breast to feel / Meed for his hospitality!1814, Walter Scott, “[Miscellaneous Poems.] On the Massacre of Glencoe”, in The Poetical Works of Walter Scott, Esq. […], volume XII...
  • Looking at the Jury and the turbulent audience, he might have thought that the usual order of things was reversed, and that the felons were trying the honest men.1859, Charles Dickens, “Triumph”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (The Track of a Storm), pages...

Forms of felon

pluralfelons

Plural of felon: felons

Origin of felon

The adjective is derived from Middle English feloun, felun (“base, wicked; hostile; of an animal: dangerous; of words: angry, harsh, slanderous; of things: dangerous, deadly; false, fraudulent; unlucky”) [and other forms], from Old French felon (“bad, evil, immoral”) (compare fel (“evil; despicable, vile”)), from Early Medieval Latin fellōnem; further etymology uncertain. Doublet of fell (“of a strong and cruel nature; fierce; grim; ruthless, savage”). Etymology 1, adjective sense 3 (“obtained through a felony”) is derived from the noun. The noun is derived from Middle English feloun, felun (“criminal, specifically one who has committed a felony, felon; cruel, hostile, violent, etc., person; deceiver; evildoer, monster, sinner; traitor; bold or fierce warrior; deceit, falseness; wickedness, wrongdoing; treachery”) [and other forms], from feloun, felun (adjective): see above. Cognates * Catalan felló (adjective) * French félon (adjective, noun) * Italian fellone (adjective, noun) * Occitan felon, felhon, fellon (adjective) * Spanish felón (adjective, noun)

From Middle English feloun, felone (“type of carbuncle or sore with pus; swelling on a hawk’s body”), possibly from Old French *felon, from Latin fel (“bile, gall; bitterness; poison; venom”): see etymology 1.

Words formed from felon

Words that rhyme with felon

Questions about felon

What does felon mean?
Felon means of a person or animal, their actions, thoughts, etc.: brutal, cruel, harsh, heartless; also, evil, wicked.
What is felon in Hindi?
Felon in Hindi is आततायी (ātatāyī). See Felon meaning in Hindi.
How do you use felon in a sentence?
Nor outvvard Tempeſt, nor corroſive Time, / Nought but the felon undermining Hand / Of dark Corruption, can it's Frame diſſolve, / And lay the Toil of Ages in the duſt.
What part of speech is felon?
Felon can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce felon?
Felon is pronounced /ˈfɛlən/ (UK).

Words near felon in the dictionary

  1. felo-de-se
  2. felodipine
  3. felodopine
  4. feloid
  5. feloids
  6. felon
  7. Felon-in-Chief
  8. felon-setter
  9. felon-setters
  10. felon-setting
  11. feloness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: felon (page history and authors); आततायी (Hindi) (page history and authors); felon (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); felon (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Felon (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); felon (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-felon.wav.

Cite this entry: “felon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/felon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.