felon

/ˈfɛlən/

/ˈfɛlən/

Other forms: felons

Technically, a felon is anyone who's been convicted of a serious crime, but you can use felon to describe anyone you think has done something terrible.

For a felon, it's being paraded in handcuffs in front of the public that can be the worst part of being convicted. In some countries, you're considered a felon simply because the king says that you are. Here in the U.S., though, you're innocent until proven guilty, at which point people can call you a felon. My boyfriend took the dog, the TV, and my expensive French sauté pan after we broke up. If you ever run into the felon, please kick him in the shins, and tell him he's a criminal.

Definitions of felon

1. noun

   someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime
   synonyms: criminal, crook, malefactor, outlaw

   examples:

   William H. Bonney

   United States outlaw who was said to have killed 21 men (1859-1881)

   Jesse James

   United States outlaw who fought as a Confederate soldier and later led a band of outlaws that robbed trains and banks in the West until he was murdered by a member of his own gang (1847-1882)

   Robert MacGregor

   Scottish clan leader and outlaw who was the subject of a 1817 novel by Sir Walter Scott (1671-1734)

   types:

   accessary, accessory

   someone who helps another person commit a crime

   arsonist, firebug, incendiary

   a criminal who illegally sets fire to property

   blackmailer, extortioner, extortionist

   a criminal who extorts money from someone by threatening to expose embarrassing information about them

   bootlegger, moonshiner

   someone who makes or sells illegal goods, especially illegal liquor

   briber, suborner

   someone who pays (or otherwise incites) you to commit a wrongful act

   coconspirator, conspirator, machinator, plotter

   a member of a conspiracy

   desperado, desperate criminal

   a bold outlaw (especially on the American frontier)

   fugitive, fugitive from justice

   someone who is sought by law officers; someone trying to elude justice

   gangster, mobster

   a criminal who is a member of gang

   highbinder

   a corrupt politician

   highjacker, hijacker

   someone who uses force to take over a vehicle (especially an airplane) in order to reach an alternative destination

   goon, hood, hoodlum, punk, strong-armer, thug, tough, toughie

   an aggressive and violent young criminal

   gaolbird, jail bird, jailbird

   a criminal who has been jailed repeatedly

   abductor, kidnaper, kidnapper, snatcher

   someone who unlawfully seizes and detains a victim (usually for ransom)

   mafioso

   a member of the Mafia crime syndicate in the United States

   gangster's moll, gun moll, moll

   the girlfriend of a gangster

   liquidator, manslayer, murderer

   a criminal who commits homicide (who performs the unlawful premeditated killing of another human being)

   parolee, probationer

   someone released on probation or on parole

   drug dealer, drug peddler, drug trafficker, peddler, pusher

   an unlicensed dealer in illegal drugs

   racketeer

   someone who commits crimes for profit (especially one who obtains money by fraud or extortion)

   raper, rapist

   someone who forces another to have sexual intercourse

   habitual criminal, recidivist, repeater

   someone who is repeatedly arrested for criminal behavior (especially for the same criminal behavior)

   scofflaw

   one who habitually ignores the law and does not answer court summonses

   contrabandist, moon curser, moon-curser, runner, smuggler

   someone who imports or exports without paying duties

   stealer, thief

   a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it

   traitor, treasonist

   someone who betrays his country by committing treason

   law offender, lawbreaker, violator

   someone who violates the law

   apache

   a Parisian gangster

   absconder

   a fugitive who runs away and hides to avoid arrest or prosecution

   abetter, abettor

   one who helps or encourages or incites another

   accessory after the fact

   a person who gives assistance or comfort to someone known to be a felon or known to be sought in connection with the commission of a felony

   accessory before the fact

   a person who procures or advises or commands the commission of a felony but who is not present at its perpetration

   accessory during the fact

   a person who witnesses a crime but does not try to prevent it

   assassin, assassinator, bravo

   a murderer (especially one who kills a prominent political figure) who kills by a surprise attack and often is hired to do the deed

   bagman

   a racketeer assigned to collect or distribute payoff money

   bandit, brigand

   an armed thief who is (usually) a member of a band

   barnburner

   someone who burns down a barn

   booster, lifter, shoplifter

   a thief who steals goods that are in a store

   bully

   a hired thug

   burglar

   a thief who enters a building with intent to steal

   butcher

   a brutal indiscriminate murderer

   collaborationist, collaborator, quisling

   someone who collaborates with an enemy occupying force

   collaborator, confederate, henchman, partner in crime

   someone who assists in a plot

   coyote

   someone who smuggles illegal immigrants into the United States (usually across the Mexican border)

   crimp, crimper

   someone who tricks or coerces men into service as sailors or soldiers

   cutthroat

   someone who murders by cutting the victim's throat

   dacoit, dakoit

   a member of an armed gang of robbers

   defalcator, embezzler, peculator

   someone who violates a trust by taking (money) for his own use

   escapee

   someone who escapes

   fifth columnist, saboteur

   a member of a clandestine subversive organization who tries to help a potential invader

   fratricide

   a person who murders their brother or sister

   body snatcher, ghoul, graverobber

   someone who takes bodies from graves and sells them for anatomical dissection

   graverobber

   someone who steals valuables from graves or crypts

   gun, gun for hire, gunman, gunslinger, hired gun, hit man, hitman, shooter, torpedo, triggerman

   a professional killer who uses a gun

   arms-runner, gunrunner

   a smuggler of guns

   hatchet man, iceman

   a professional killer

   holdup man, stickup man

   an armed thief

   infanticide

   a person who murders an infant

   larcener, larcenist

   a person who commits larceny

   mass murderer

   a person who is responsible for the deaths of many victims in a single incident

   murderess

   a woman murderer

   parricide

   someone who kills his or her parent

   cutpurse, dip, pickpocket

   a thief who steals from the pockets or purses of others in public places

   literary pirate, pirate, plagiariser, plagiarist, plagiarizer

   someone who uses another person's words or ideas as if they were his own

   despoiler, freebooter, looter, pillager, plunderer, raider, spoiler

   someone who takes spoils or plunder (as in war)

   ripper

   a murderer who slashes the victims with a knife

   robber

   a thief who steals from someone by threatening violence

   rumrunner

   someone who illegally smuggles liquor across a border

   cattle thief, rustler

   someone who steals livestock (especially cattle)

   cracksman, safebreaker, safecracker

   a thief who breaks open safes to steal valuable contents

   serial killer, serial murderer

   someone who murders more than three victims one at a time in a relatively short interval

   seizer, shanghaier

   a kidnapper who drugs men and takes them for compulsory service aboard a ship

   snatcher

   a thief who grabs and runs

   pilferer, sneak thief, snitcher

   a thief who steals without using violence

   traitress

   female traitor

   yakuza

   a Japanese gangster

   yardie

   member of an international gang of Jamaican criminals who sell drugs and violence

   type of:

   principal

   (criminal law) any person involved in a criminal offense, regardless of whether the person profits from such involvement
2. noun

   a purulent infection at the end of a finger or toe in the area surrounding the nail
   synonyms: whitlow

   type of:

   infection

   the pathological state resulting from the invasion of the body by pathogenic microorganisms