Cŏn-vĭc'tion, n.

n. [Lat. convictio, Fr. conviction, Sp. conviccion, It. convizione.] 1. The act of convicting; the act of proving, finding, or adjudging guilty of an offense. The greater certainty of conviction and the greater certainty of punishment rendered it [the Star Chamber] incomparably more formidable than the ordinary benches of justice. Hallam. 2. The act of convincing of error, or of compelling the admission of a truth; confutation. For all his tedious talk is but vain boast, Or subtle shifts conviction to evade. Milton. The manner of his conviction was designed . . . as a lasting argument for the conviction of others. Atterbury. 3. The state of being convinced or convicted; strong persuasion or belief; especially, the state of being convicted of sin, or by one's conscience. To call evil good, and good evil, against the conviction of their own consciences. Swift. An act of divine grace could alone work an instantaneous change in the [religious] convictions of a nation. Prescott.