felonious

From Middle English *felonious (implied in feloniously; compare felonous); equivalent to felony +‎ -ous.

• enPR: fə-lō'nē-əs

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -əʊniəs

felonious (comparative more felonious, superlative most felonious)

1. Of, relating to, being, or having the quality of felony.

   The defendant must show that any bail money he hopes to post did not come from the felonious means.

   • 1637, John Milton, Comus:

     O thievish Night, / Why should'st thou, but for some felonious end, / In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars?

2. (law) Done with intent to commit a crime.

   felonious homicide

   • 2015, Kenneth J. Peak, Pamela M. Everett, Introduction to Criminal Justice: Practice and Process:

     First, as felony prosecutor, I prosecute high-level felonies including homicides; sexual assaults; child endangerings; shootings and other felonious assaults; and media cases.

(Of, relating to, being, or having the quality of felony): malignant, malicious, villainous, traitorous, perfidious

• felon
• felonize
• felonization

• criminal
• misdemeanourous

• “felonious”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.