criminal
Americanadjective
noun
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criminals
plural
noun
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a person charged with and convicted of crime
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a person who commits crimes for a living
adjective
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of, involving, or guilty of crime
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(prenominal) of or relating to crime or its punishment
criminal court
criminal lawyer
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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.
Synonym Usage
See illegal.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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noncriminaladjective
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quasi-criminaladjective
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subcriminaladjective
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supercriminaladjective
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uncriminaladjective
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criminallyadverb
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noncriminallyadverb
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quasi-criminallyadverb
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subcriminallyadverb
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supercriminallyadverb
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uncriminallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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”; see crime) + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
A criminal is someone who breaks the law. If you're a murderer, thief, or tax cheat, you're a criminal. When you think of criminals, your first thought might be of someone awful like a murderer. But this word is a lot broader — Anyone who breaks the law is technically a criminal, even if the crime is just not paying a speeding ticket. You can also talk about criminal activities: things that are illegal. Lots of TV shows are about police officers and lawyers trying to catch criminals who are engaged in all kinds of exciting criminal activity.
Vocabulary lists containing criminal
Way Off: Synonyms for "Wrong"
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Module 1: Vocabulary Video Words
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Crime and Punishment
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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.
See Examples For:
The following year Ferris's trial became, at the time, the longest and most expensive criminal case in Scottish legal history.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Attorney General Letitia James has been appointed as special prosecutor to head the criminal investigation into the Cornell allegations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Some 19 City traders were convicted in the US and UK between 2015 and 2019 across nine criminal trials held in London and New York.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Amid public outcry, the district attorney reopened the case, and Hochul has since appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor to head the criminal investigation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Penelope said nothing, although inside she began to feel the kind of fluttery, nervous tummy that she supposed every master criminal felt as the moment of truth grew near.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
The high-profile trial of the Manson family made Manson and several of his followers some of the most infamous criminals of the 20th century.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Burnham said if the scheme was scrapped, prisons would become full and the courts would have to stop sentencing new criminals.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Pike's case had sparked debate over capital punishment for young criminals.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
Hundreds of criminals are being released early from prisons in England and Wales under new rules introduced to prevent facilities reaching capacity.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
He was sure he’d been pickpocketed at the bakery, and even called Tía Inés to warn her about common criminals eating at the luncheonette where she works.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
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.
