felony

English

Alternative forms

• fellonie

Etymology

From Middle English felony, felonie, from Old French felonie (“evil, immoral deed”), from felon (“evildoer”). Ultimately of Proto-Germanic origin. More at felon.

Pronunciation

• enPR: fĕ'lə-nē, IPA^(key): /ˈfɛ.lə.ni/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

felony (plural felonies)

1. (law, criminology, US, historical in UK) 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.

   Coordinate term: misdemeanor

   • 2024 May 30, The Editorial Board, “Donald Trump, Felon”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Many 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.

Derived terms

• composition of a felony
• felony murder
• felony murder rule
• felony stop
• felony traffic stop

 

Related terms

• felon
• felonious
• felonize

Translations

a serious criminal offense

• Arabic: جِنَايَة (ar) f (jināya)

  Gulf Arabic: جناية f (jināya)

• Bulgarian: углавно престъпление n (uglavno prestǎplenie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 重罪 (zh) (zhòngzuì)

• Czech: trestný čin (cs) m, závažný trestný čin m
• Dutch: (Netherlands) misdrijf (nl) n, (Belgium) misdaad (nl) f
• Finnish: törkeä rikos (fi)
• French: crime (fr) m
• German: Verbrechen (de) n (defined similarly to “felony”); schwere Straftat f (informal synonym); Schwerverbrechen (de) n, Schwerstverbrechen n, Kapitalverbrechen (de) n (informal augmentations)
• Greek: κακούργημα (el) n (kakoúrgima)
• Hebrew: פֶּשַׁע (he) (pésha')
• Hungarian: (súlyos (hu)) bűncselekmény (hu), bűntett (hu)
• Italian: delitto (it) m, reato (it) m
• Japanese: 重罪 (ja) (じゅうざい, jūzai)
• Korean: 중죄 (ko) (jungjoe)
• Maori: taihara
• Plautdietsch: Vebräakjen n
• Polish: ciężkie przestępstwo n, zbrodnia (pl) f
• Portuguese: crime grave m
• Russian: преступле́ние (ru) n (prestuplénije), тя́жкое уголо́вное преступле́ние n (tjážkoje ugolóvnoje prestuplénije), тя́жкое преступле́ние n (tjážkoje prestuplénije), уголо́вное преступле́ние n (ugolóvnoje prestuplénije), фело́ния (ru) f (felónija), фелони́я (ru) f (feloníja)
• Spanish: crimen (es) m, delito (es) m, felonía (es) f (US)
• Swedish: feloni c
• Tagalog: pagkakasala
• Welsh: ffeloniaeth f

See also

• misdemeanor (less serious crime)