noun
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the state or quality of being criminal
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rare (often plural) a criminal act or practice
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of criminality
From the Medieval Latin word crīminālitās, dating back to 1605–15. See criminal, -ity
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:
Noting that Peru has had 15 interior ministers in the past five years, Mr. López-Dolz, now a political-risk adviser based in Texas, believes Peru can defeat criminality only if it tackles the problem strategically.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Huntington Beach police are warning online organizers and promoters attempting an “End of Summer Beach Bash” party or “takeover,” à la Newport Beach’s wild Fourth of July, that they will be prosecuted for any criminality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
The Home Office told us: "All asylum claimants are subject to mandatory security checks to confirm their identity for the purpose of immigration, security and criminality checks."
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Melt all of that together and you get a veritable News of the Weird headline factory of criminality and oddity that makes the place so very . . . content rich.
From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2026
Indeed, the stigma of criminality functions in much the same way that the stigma of race once did.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
The government and the military are stepping up actions “to minimize the criminalities along the oil production lines,” said Horatius Egua, a senior official at the petroleum ministry.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 24, 2022
But besides this scale for classification, the military law, to which cadets, as part of the army, are amenable, refers all immoralities and criminalities to a military tribunal.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 76, February, 1864 by Various
And his knowledge, especially of criminalities and the workings of crooked minds, seemed very marvellous to those who sought him out.
From The Penalty by Christy, Howard Chandler
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.
