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Offender vs Felon - What's the difference?

offender | felon |

As nouns the difference between offender and felon

is that offender is one who gives or causes offense while felon is a person who has committed a felony.

offender

English

Alternative forms

* offendor (obsolete) * offendour (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • One who gives or causes offense.
  • A person who commits an offense against the law, a lawbreaker.

    • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * juvenile offender * repeat offender

    Anagrams

    * *

    felon

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) felun, feloun, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person who has committed a felony.
  • * 1859 , (Charles Dickens), A Tale of Two Cities , James Nisbet & Company (1902), Book 3, Chapter 6, page 340:
    • Looking at the Jury and the turbulent audience, he might have thought that the usual order of things was reversed, and that the felons were trying the honest men.
  • (legal) A person who has been tried]] and [[conviction, convicted of a felony.
    • Synonyms
    * (one who has committed a felony) criminal; convict; malefactor; culprit
    Related terms
    * felonious * felony

    Etymology 2

    Probably from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (medicine) A bacterial infection at the end of a finger or toe.

    • See also

    * whitlow

    References

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