felonize

English

Etymology

From felony +‎ -ize.

Verb

felonize (third-person singular simple present felonizes, present participle felonizing, simple past and past participle felonized)

1. To classify a crime as a felony.
   • January 2015 The War on Drugs Is Burning Out Rolling Stone

     Prop 47 also de-felonized nonviolent theft of less than $950.

   • May 2018 Medical Marijuana Not a State Crime on College Campuses, AZ Supreme Court Rules Phoenix New Times

     That law, pushed by university officials and cannabis prohibitionists, re-felonized marijuana on college campuses for medical patients.

   • 2024 March 12, Cory Doctorow, “Your car spies on you and rats you out to insurance companies”, in Pluralistic‎^[1]:

     Big Car has figured out that if it encrypts its diagnostic messages, it can felonize third-party diagnosis of a car, because decrypting the messages violates the DMCA

2. To classify a person as a felon.
   • June 2018 California Experience Drove Principal to Teach Rio Grande Sun

     Archuleta tells his most difficult students that they will be principals one day. “They look at me like, ‘Huh? You’re crazy,’” he said. “A lot of me really feels it. Because I’m them. It was fortunate that my activism didn’t get me felonized, because I wouldn’t be where I’m at today.” He believes his life is a credit to Jesus.

Derived terms

• de-felonize
• re-felonize

See also

• criminalize
• misdemeanorize
• outlaw

Anagrams

• life zone