criminal
Americanadjective
noun
noun
-
a person charged with and convicted of crime
-
a person who commits crimes for a living
adjective
-
of, involving, or guilty of crime
-
(prenominal) of or relating to crime or its punishment
criminal court
criminal lawyer
-
informal senseless or deplorable
a criminal waste of money
Usage
What is a basic definition of criminal? A criminal is a person who commits crime. Criminal is also used to describe something involved in committing crime or related to crime. Criminal has a few other senses as an adjective.A criminal is a person who breaks the law and engages in illegal activity.
- Real-life examples: Shoplifters, kidnappers, bank robbers, and pirates are all criminals.
- Used in a sentence: The judged sentenced the two wanted criminals to prison for stealing a car.
- Real-life examples: Stealing a car, robbing someone’s house, and printing fake money to use as real money are all criminal acts. They are all against the law, and a person will be arrested if caught doing any of these acts. Police might say a person is accused of criminal activity if they believe the person was doing something illegal.
- Used in a sentence: The gangster Al Capone was in charge of a criminal organization.
- Real-life examples: In the United States, criminal law is a collection of laws that state what the government or society says is a crime and will result in punishment by the state if someone is proved to have broken the law. A criminal lawyer is a lawyer who specializes in criminal law.
- Used in a sentence: When Jimmy was arrested for breaking into his neighbor’s house, he called a criminal lawyer to help him.
Related Words
See illegal.
Other Word Forms
- criminally adverb
- noncriminal adjective
- noncriminally adverb
- quasi-criminal adjective
- quasi-criminally adverb
- subcriminal adjective
- subcriminally adverb
- supercriminal adjective
- supercriminally adverb
- uncriminal adjective
- uncriminally adverb
Etymology
Origin of criminal
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin crīminālis, from Latin crīmin- (stem of crīmen “accusation, blame, charge”; crime ) + -ālis -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He was imprisoned amid tough security, under the so-called 41bis regime, an article of the Italian criminal code introduced after the two judges were killed.
From BBC
“Claiming a top criminal scalp will not spare the government from a messy aftermath,” said Mora of the International Crisis Group.
From Los Angeles Times
The Hennepin County Attorney’s office is assessing evidence submitted by the public for any potentially criminal activity.
The case brought together civil libertarians and gun rights advocates, who said millions of Americans could face criminal charges if the government’s view is upheld.
From Los Angeles Times
But of Harris’ liaisons with criminals and detectives, the anchor in his work — and in Raftery’s biography — would be his proximity to the FBI.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
