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career criminal

American  
[ker-eer krim-uh-nuhl] / kərˈɪər ˈkrɪm ə nəl /

noun

career criminals plural
  1. a person who has committed numerous crimes, particularly one who makes a living through criminal activity.


Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

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.

Not everybody has the resilience—or luck—to survive like Lily Dillon, the career criminal in “The Grifters” and one of Thompson’s fiercest characters.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026

James Earl Ray, a career criminal, pleaded guilty to the killing, but later renounced his plea.

From BBC • Jul. 21, 2025

By its very nature the justice system is glacial, methodical, punctilious, and backward-looking in ways that make keeping up with the well-resourced, wealthy career criminal supremely challenging.

From Slate • Oct. 25, 2024

Hanson also is serving a life sentence for several federal convictions, including being a career criminal, that predate his state death sentence.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 13, 2022

The district attorney’s office asked that he not be freed because he is a career criminal and a danger to the community.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 5, 2022

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