precrime
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of precrime
Coined in 1956 by Philip K. Dick in his science-fiction short story “The Minority Report”; pre- + crime
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.
Minority Report disappoints because, in its first episode at least, it is uninterested in the very idea that enlivened the film: that precrime could be wrong.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2015
All the villains that Dash and Lara are going to have to catch every week were arrested during precrime, placed in “Haloes,” solitary devices that made them go crazy, and released after precrime ended.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2015
The 2002 film starred Tom Cruise as a rogue member of a special "precrime" police unit in charge of preventing murders by looking into the future.
From The Verge ● Jan. 9, 2015
Perhaps it is because "precrime", a sci-fi concept of some vintage, is now real.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 16, 2013
“The best thing is for them to return to their precrime existence as quickly as possible and not to have an involuntary identity as ‘that child,’” says Finkelhor.
From Time ● Feb. 6, 2013
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.
