felony
/ˈfɛləni/
felony noun: a 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.
Noun
felony (plural felonies)
- A 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...
- 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 Process
felony meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Kannada
felony in Tamil
- அடாப் பழி, பெருங் குற்றம், கொடுங்குற்றம்
felony in Urdu
- جرم
felony in Bengali
- গুরুতর ফৌজদারি অপরাধ
felony in Kannada
- ಮಹಾಪಾತಕ, ಉಗ್ರ ಅಪರಾಧ, ಘಾತುಕ ಕೃತ್ಯ, ಘೋರಾಪರಾಧ
More languagesFewer languages
- felony in Sanskrit
- साहस sāhasa
- felony in Tagalog
- pagkakasala
- felony in Arabic
- جِنَايَة jināya
- felony in Vietnamese
- trọng tội
Examples of felony in a sentence
- He was charged with two felonies, for possession of Xanax and wax.
- He was charged with a misdemeanor rather than a felony.
- His lawyer copped him out on just one felony charge.
Forms of felony
| plural | felonies |
|---|---|
| alternative form | fellonie |
Origin of felony
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.
Words formed from felony
Phrases with felony
Words that rhyme with felony
Questions about felony
- What does felony mean?
- Felony means a 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.
- What is felony in Tamil?
- Felony in Tamil is அடாப் பழி, பெருங் குற்றம், கொடுங்குற்றம். See Felony meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is felony?
- Felony is a noun.
- How do you pronounce felony?
- Felony is pronounced /ˈfɛləni/.
- What is the plural of felony?
- The plural of felony is felonies.
Words near felony in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: felony (page history and authors); felony (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); felony (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); felony (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); felony (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); साहस (Sanskrit) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-felony.wav, En-us-felony.oga.
Cite this entry: “felony.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/felony. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.