noun
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the state or quality of being criminal
-
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.
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
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
“An officer could simply invent an accusation of criminality, leaving the green-card holder trapped in a bureaucratic twilight zone for years before they have a chance to rebut the accusation at a hearing,” Mark writes.
From Slate • Jun. 25, 2026
He called the offending "organised and sophisticated criminality which has been committed for selfish gain".
From BBC • Jun. 5, 2026
Even when released from the system’s formal control, the stigma of criminality lingers.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
