criminality

[ krim-uh-nal-i-tee ]

noun

, plural crim·i·nal·i·ties

1. the state of being criminal.
2. a criminal act or practice.

Other Words From

• noncrim·i·nali·ty noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of criminality¹

From the Medieval Latin word crīminālitās, dating back to 1605–15. See criminal, -ity

Example Sentences

Those emails included a heavy dose of redacted sections — one such section itself prompted Carlson’s speculation about criminality — but included enough Lego pieces for Carlson to build what he wanted to build.

From Washington Post

“We have a Justice Department that deals with police criminality and does not excuse it nor allow police to act as though what they do is acceptable behavior in the line of duty,” Sharpton said.

From Washington Post

This is in no small part because of the tight hold that brain images have on our imagination of the mechanisms structuring human behavior, especially stigmatized dispositions like mental illness and criminality.

From Nautilus

She allows the reader to reach conclusions about the state of policing, how race and class intersect with criminality, and whether the tools of policing address the needs of citizens.

From Washington Post

Their inclusion here is not intended to associate the protected activity with criminality or a threat to national security, or to infer that such protected activity itself violates federal law.

From Washington Post

Liu and Rafael were there to protect against the common criminality Otero mentioned.

From The Daily Beast

It also provides the cultural foundation for the legal criminality of the “War on Drugs.”

From The Daily Beast

Yes, a president needs courage to stand up to corruption and criminality in his own country.

From The Daily Beast

We want the morality of a situation to match the criminality.

From The Daily Beast

They came from the poor suburban neighborhoods around Paris and Toulouse in France and had backgrounds of petty criminality.

From The Daily Beast

The criminality of concealing dangers that threatened many to protect one was comprehended.

From Project Gutenberg

He was a capitalist; he would remain one, as long as a sleepily tolerant public opinion permitted this criminality in its midst.

From Project Gutenberg

If on the subject of falsehood, we would impress our pupils with the fact that the degree does not affect criminality.

From Project Gutenberg

His true criminality now and throughout is to be gathered from the testimony of Henry Howard in the year following.

From Project Gutenberg

The country at length began to awaken to a sense of the criminality of those laws which it had imposed upon an inoffensive people.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• atrocity
• breach
• case
• corruption
• evil
• felony
• infraction
• lawlessness
• misconduct
• misdeed
• misdemeanor
• scandal
• transgression
• violation
• wrongdoing