Antonyms for felon


Grammar : Noun
Spell : fel-uh n
Phonetic Transcription : ˈfɛl ən


Definition of felon

Origin :
  • late 13c., from Old French felon "evil-doer, scoundrel, traitor, rebel, the Devil" (9c.), from Medieval Latin fellonem (nominative fello) "evil-doer," of uncertain origin, perhaps from Frankish *fillo, *filljo "person who whips or beats, scourger" (cf. Old High German fillen "to whip"); or from Latin fel "gall, poison," on the notion of "one full of bitterness."
  • Another theory (advanced by Professor R. Atkinson of Dublin) traces it to Latin fellare "to suck" (see fecund), which had an obscene secondary meaning in classical Latin (well-known to readers of Martial and Catullus), which would make a felon etymologically a "cock-sucker." OED inclines toward the "gall" explanation, but finds Atkinson's "most plausible" of the others.
  • noun criminal
Example sentences :
  • They may arrest me as a felon—at any rate I shall be forced to leave the bank and go away.
  • Extract from : « Thoroughbreds » by W. A. Fraser
  • It seemed a lifetime that he had lived in the noisome atmosphere of a felon's cell.
  • Extract from : « Thoroughbreds » by W. A. Fraser
  • No man at last believes that he can be lost, nor that the crime in him is as black as in the felon.
  • Extract from : « Essays, Second Series » by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • His dear friend, a felon, taken in open fight by a British cruiser!
  • Extract from : « Roland Cashel » by Charles James Lever
  • You must not leave me—you shall not—I am not to be deserted for the sake of a felon!
  • Extract from : « Luttrell Of Arran » by Charles James Lever
  • Had he reached a state of degradation so low that even the felon loathed his presence?
  • Extract from : « An Outcast » by F. Colburn Adams
  • The felon was not there, but his filthy garments betrayed his passage.
  • Extract from : « In Search of the Castaways » by Jules Verne
  • I could never be happy again if on my wedding-day you should die a felon's death!
  • Extract from : « Capitola's Peril » by Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth
  • He could not be Squire of Llanfeare; nor would he be a felon,—a felon always in his own esteem.
  • Extract from : « Cousin Henry » by Anthony Trollope
  • So far as I knew to the contrary, my only child was mated to a felon.
  • Extract from : « The Slave of Silence » by Fred M. White

Synonyms for felon

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019