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.
It's also encouraged insurers to write off more damaged vehicles because it costs so much to fix them - which provides another opportunity for criminals.
From BBC
The pair explained to Witkoff that, after a succession of criminal and civil actions against their father and his companies, they were scrambling to find banks that would accept them as clients.
First, the Coens submerge us headfirst into the cold netherworld of a Minnesota winter, where criminals hope that a dusting of fresh, frosty powder will cover their tracks.
From Salon
In a separate interview on Tuesday, he told RTL radio that Epstein had been "generous" and "courteous", adding: "When I meet people I don't ask to see their criminal record."
From BBC
Australia's federal police have ruled out an arrest, with senior officials telling lawmakers this week that they received legal advice Herzog had "full immunity" covering civil and criminal matters, including genocide.
From Barron's
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.
