conviction
kun-VIK-shunnounMeaning a firmly held belief; also, a finding of guilt in court
Memory hook con-VICT-ion: a belief that WINS you. Everyone laughs at Tia’s plan to turn the empty lot into a garden, but she plants her flag and won’t budge. She speaks with conviction.
Nell spoke with conviction about saving the old oak trees.
In context Though everyone laughed at her plan, Tia held to her conviction that the empty lot could become a garden, and by summer it was full of tomatoes.
Similar belief, certainty, confidence, principle
Opposite doubt, uncertainty
From Latin convictio, from convincere, “to overcome, to prove”: con (thoroughly) + vincere (to conquer).