criminology
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of criminology
1855–60; < Latin crīmin- (stem of crīmen; see crime) + -o- + -logy
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.
Montoya, a criminology major who also works at Starbucks, was the first to mention a potential suspect.
From Slate • Apr. 6, 2026
Cooling their heels in a Venetian jail in 1755, Giacomo Casanova and the prisoner in the cell above him contrived one of the more imaginative escapes in the annals of criminology.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 2026
The exclusion of state authorities from the probe into Good's killing is likely to undermine public trust, said Edward Maguire, a criminology professor at Arizona State University.
From BBC • Jan. 8, 2026
Jeff Asher, a leading expert in the field of criminology, said it’s hard to say whether the perception gap is closing “because we don’t necessarily track it super systematically.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2026
In fact, the “bloodbath” school of criminology was touting exactly the opposite theory—that an increase in the teenage share of the population would produce a crop of superpredators who would lay the nation low.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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.
