I. con ‧ vict 1 /kənˈvɪkt/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: past participle of convincere ; ⇨ ↑ convince ]
to prove or officially announce that someone is guilty of a crime after a ↑ trial in a law court OPP acquit
convict somebody of something
She was convicted of shoplifting.
convict somebody on something
He was convicted on fraud charges.
a convicted murderer
II. con ‧ vict 2 /ˈkɒnvɪkt $ ˈkɑːn-/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
someone who has been proved to be guilty of a crime and sent to prison:
an escaped convict
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THESAURUS
▪ prisoner someone who is kept in a prison as a punishment for a crime, or while they are waiting for their ↑ trial :
Prisoners may be locked in their cells for twenty-two hours a day.
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a prisoner serving a life sentence for murder
▪ convict especially written someone who has been found guilty of a crime and sent to a prison. Convict is used especially about someone who is sent to prison for a long time. It is more commonly used in historical descriptions, or in the phrase an escaped convict :
The convicts were sent from England to Australia.
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Police were hunting for an escaped convict.
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Low-risk convicts help to fight forest fires and clean up public lands.
▪ inmate someone who is kept in a prison or a mental hospital:
Some inmates are allowed to have special privileges.
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He was described by a fellow inmate as a quiet man.
▪ captive especially literary someone who is kept somewhere and not allowed to go free, especially in a war or fighting. Captive is a rather formal word which is used especially in literature:
Their objective was to disarm the enemy and release the captives.
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She was held captive (=kept as a prisoner) in the jungle for over three years.
▪ prisoner of war a soldier, member of the navy etc who is caught by the enemy during a war and kept in the enemy’s country:
My grandad was a prisoner of war in Germany.
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They agreed to release two Iranian prisoners of war.
▪ hostage someone who is kept somewhere as a prisoner, in order to force people to agree to do something, for example in order to get money or to achive a political aim:
Diplomats are continuing their efforts to secure the release of the hostages.
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The US hostages were held in Tehran for over a year.
▪ detainee/internee someone who is kept in a prison, usually because of their political views and often without a trial:
In some cases, political detainees have been beaten or mistreated.
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23,531 people passed through the camps between 1944 and 1962, including 14,647 political internees.
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the detainees at Guantanamo Bay