FELONY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does felony mean? 

• FELONY (noun)
  The noun FELONY has 1 sense:

1. a serious crime (such as murder or arson)

  Familiarity information: FELONY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FELONY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A serious crime (such as murder or arson)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("felony" is a kind of...):

crime; criminal offence; criminal offense; law-breaking ((criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "felony"):

capture; seizure (the act of taking of a person by force)

racketeering (engaging in a racket)

bribery; graft (the practice of offering something (usually money) in order to gain an illicit advantage)

larceny; stealing; theft; thievery; thieving (the act of taking something from someone unlawfully)

extortion (the felonious act of extorting money (as by threats of violence))

burglary (entering a building unlawfully with intent to commit a felony or to steal valuable property)

Derivation:

felonious (involving or being or having the nature of a crime)

 Context examples 

But, in any case a forced marriage is no marriage, but it is a very serious felony, as you will discover before you have finished.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He’s not got blood enough to go in for felony with impunity.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Do you know,” said I, as we walked along the passage, “what felony was Number Twenty Seven's last folly”?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then, again, why should he leave the girl in the street and dart away to commit a felony?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A type of program designed to assist individuals and families to address diverse issues such as alcohol and drug abuse, child disobedience, behavioral deviations, misdemeanor and felony.

(Diversion Program, NCI Thesaurus)

As if a man bent on felony would slam his door so as to wake a household.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yet, if you'll read his letter, you'll find he is the tenderest of men to prisoners convicted of the whole calendar of felonies, said I; though I can't find that his tenderness extends to any other class of created beings.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You have condoned a felony, and you have aided the escape of a murderer, for I cannot doubt that any money which was taken by James Wilder to aid his accomplice in his flight came from your Grace’s purse.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)