convictism

English

Etymology

From convict +‎ -ism.

Noun

convictism (uncountable)

1. The policy or practice of transporting convicts to penal settlements, especially in Australia.
2. The convict system as embodied in its subjects; convicts as a group; the convict class.
   • 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of his Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 51:

     So, in virtue of this last appeal, convictism had established a tacit right to converse in whispers, and to move about inside its oaken cage.

   • 1865, William Howitt, The History of Discovery in Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand […] :

     It was the simple expression of a necessity for clearing away from home a pressing amount of convictism, and of thus giving to this corrupt portion of society a means of regeneration

Synonyms

• transportation

References

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