Felonious

Word of the Day for Monday, December 12, 2011

felonious \fuh-LOH-nee-uhs\, adjective:

1. Wicked; base; villainous.
2. Law. Pertaining to, of the nature of, or involving a felony: as in, felonious homicide; felonious intent.

Now, there was much in your manuscript and the accompanying material which was evidence of indiscreet, and possibly criminal, and in some cases undeniably felonious behaviour.
-- Richard S. Prather, The Cheim Manuscript

Felonious malfeasance. Jimmy, you never talked like that when you were a cop. The term is—crooked scams.
-- Jeff Sherratt, Six to Five Against

Felonious dates back to the the 1500s. The word felon is from the Old French meaning “villan” and the suffix -ous which applies a quality to a general sense, as in nervous or glorious.

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/