war crime

American  

noun

1. Usually war crimes crimes committed against an enemy, prisoners of war, or subjects in wartime that violate international agreements or, as in the case of genocide, are offenses against humanity.

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war crime British  

noun

1. a crime committed in wartime in violation of the accepted rules and customs of war, such as genocide, ill-treatment of prisoners of war, etc

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Other Word Forms

• war criminal noun

Etymology

Origin of war crime

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

When nations are openly engaged in armed conflict, as the U.S. and Iran are, neither the threat nor the execution of large-scale attacks on infrastructure has been prosecuted as a war crime.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

These more modern firearms became not only practical tools of war, crime or self-defense but symbolic objects in their own right.

From Salon • Sep. 16, 2025

The UN human rights chief called the attack a war crime.

From BBC • Dec. 23, 2024

In 1998, the Rome Statute created the International Criminal Court and made it a war crime to use starvation of civilians as a military tactic in international conflict.

From New York Times • Jan. 11, 2024

Ever since the bugouts had inducted Earth into their Galactic Federation, promising to end war, crime, and corruption, he'd found himself at loose ends.

From Super Man and the Bug Out by Doctorow, Cory