not guilty

English

Noun

not guilty (plural not guilties)

(law) A formal plea by a defendant of not being culpable for the crime with which the defendant is charged.
If you do not plead, a plea of not guilty will be entered for you.
(law) A verdict or formal finding by the legal system that a defendant is not culpable for the crime with which the defendant was charged.
- 2003, D.B.C. Pierre, Vernon God Little‎, →ISBN, page 238:
  My heart beats through five not guilties. Six, seven, nine, eleven. Seventeen not guilties. The prosecutor's lips curl.
A member of a jury or tribunal supporting acquittal, or a vote cast in support of acquittal.
- 2006, John Lutz, Chill of Night‎, →ISBN, page 213:
  Two not guilties. Seven for conviction. "I'm a 'not guilty,'" she said.
A person who has been acquitted of a crime.
- 1997, David Brinkley, “June 5, 1983”, in Everyone Is Entitled to My Opinion‎, →ISBN, page 32:
  The not guilties walked out and went to work if they had jobs; the guilties were hauled away to spend maybe thirty days on the county farm growing cabbage.

Synonyms

(plea of non-culpability): innocent
(verdict of non-culpability): acquittal

Antonyms

guilty

Coordinate terms

(plea of non-culpability): guilty, no contest, not competent to stand trial, not guilty by reason of insanity
(verdict of non-culpability): guilty, not guilty by reason of insanity

Translations

plea of non-culpability

Finnish: syyttömyys (fi)

Russian: невино́вный (ru) (nevinóvnyj)

verdict of non-culpability

Finnish: vapauttava päätös

Russian: невино́вный (ru) (nevinóvnyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

Norman: ^{(please verify)} non coupabl'ye (Jersey)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: ^{(please verify)} ikke skyldig
Nynorsk: ^{(please verify)} ikkje skuldig, ^{(please verify)} ikkje skyldig

Adjective

not guilty

(law) Of a person, legally innocent of a crime which they have been accused of in a court of law.
He was found not guilty because there was a reasonable doubt.
(nonstandard) Innocent.
The jury said he was not guilty. I knew he wouldn't have done something like that.

Translations

legally innocent of a crime of which one has been accused in a court of law

Finnish: syytön (fi)
Greek: αθωωτικός (el) (athootikós)
Irish: neamhchiontach

Italian: incolpevole (it), inconfesso (having pleaded not guilty)
Norman: non coupabl'ye m or f
Polish: niewinny (pl)