criminal
Syllables: crim·i·nal/ˈkɹɪm.ə.nəl/UK/ˈkɹɪm.ɪ.nəl/
criminal adjective: against the law; forbidden by law.
Adjective
criminal (comparative more criminal, superlative most criminal)
- Against the law; forbidden by law.
- Foppish and fantastic ornaments are only indications of vice, not criminal in themselves.1711 March 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SUNDAY, March 19, 1710–1711”, in The Spectator, number 16; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a...
- Synonyms:
- crimeful, delictuous, illegal, illicit, illegitimate, lawbreaking, nonlawful, outlawed, unlawful, wrongful
- Guilty of breaking the law.
- The neglect of any of the relative duties renders us criminal in the sight of God.a. 1729, John Rogers, The Difficulties of Obtaining Salvation
- Synonyms:
- at fault, culpable, blameworthy, censurable, guilty, nocent, reprehensible, to blame
- Of or relating to crime or penal law.
- His long criminal record suggests that he is a dangerous man.
- The officers and servants of the crown, violating the personal liberty, or other right of the subject […] in some cases, were liable to criminal process.1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC
- Abhorrent or very undesirable.
- Printing such asinine opinions is criminal!
- [...] I think it represents exceptional value for money and I think it would be criminal not to go ahead and build it."2020 May 6, Graeme Pickering, “Borders Railway: time for the next step”, in Rail, page 54
- Synonyms:
- detestable, repugnant
Noun
criminal (plural criminals)
- A person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.
- ‘[…] There's every Staffordshire crime-piece ever made in this cabinet, and that's unique. The Van Hoyer Museum in New York hasn't that very rare second version of Maria Marten's Red Barn over there, nor the little Frederick George Manning—he was the criminal Dickens saw hanged on the roof of the...1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- lawbreaker, offender, perpetrator, hoodlum, justice-impacted individual, crook, committer, culprit, delinquent, desperado
criminal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
criminal in Hindi
- of or relating to crime
- आपराधिक āprādhik
- person guilty of a crime, breaking the law
- अपराधी aprādhī, दोषी doṣī, मुजरिम mujrim
criminal in Tamil
- person guilty of a crime, breaking the law
- குற்றவாளி kuṟṟavāḷi
criminal in Marathi
- person guilty of a crime, breaking the law
- गुन्हेगार gunhegār
criminal in Urdu
- of or relating to crime
- فوجداری faujdārī, مجرمانہ mujrimāna
- person guilty of a crime, breaking the law
- مُجرِم mujrim, گُناہ گار gunāh gār, پاپی pāpī, اَپْرادِھی aprādhī
More languagesFewer languages
- criminal in Bengali
- অপরাধমূলক oporadhmulok, অপরাধী opradhi
- criminal in Malayalam
- കുറ്റവാളി, കുറ്റകരമായ
- criminal in Kannada
- ಅಪರಾಧಿ aparādhi
- criminal in Gujarati
- ગુનેગાર gunegār
- criminal in Sanskrit
- अकृत्य akṛtya
- criminal in Assamese
- অপৰাধী opradhi
- criminal in Nepali
- अपराधी, आपराधिक
- criminal in Pashto
- جنايتکار jenāyatkār, مجرم mojrem
- criminal in Arabic
- جِنَائِيّ jināʔiyy, إِجْرَامِيّ ʔijrāmiyy, مُجْرِم mujrim, مُجْرِمَة mujrima
- criminal in Indonesian
- melanggar hukum, kriminal, bajingan, penjahat
- criminal in Persian
- جزایی jazâyi, مجرم mojrem, گناهکار gonâhkâr, کیفری keyfari
- criminal in Thai
- อาชญากร àat-yaa-gɔɔn, ผู้ร้าย pûu-ráai, คนร้าย kon-ráai
- criminal in Vietnamese
- tội phạm, hình sự
- criminal in Myanmar
- ရာဇဝတ်ကောင် raja.watkaung, တရားခံ ta.ra:hkam
Examples of criminal in a sentence
- The police said they would wring the truth out of that criminal.
- Her very boyfriend is the person the criminal has do most of her dirty deeds.
- The news article laid emphasis on the unusually young age of the criminals.
Synonyms of criminal
29 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- at fault
- culpable
- blameworthy
- censurable
- guilty
- reprehensible
- to blame
- detestable
- repugnant
- lawbreaker
- offender
- perpetrator
- hoodlum
- justice-impacted individual
- crook
- committer
- culprit
- delinquent
- desperado
- double-dealer
- felon
- lowlife
- malefactor
- malfeasant
- outlaw
- public enemy
- scofflaw
- undesirable
- nocent
Forms of criminal
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more criminal |
| superlative | most criminal |
| Noun | |
| plural | criminals |
Origin of criminal
From Middle English cryminal, borrowed from Anglo-Norman criminal, from Late Latin criminalis, from Latin crimen (“crime”).
Words formed from criminal
- arch-criminal
- criminal-like
- cybercriminal
- e-criminal
- career criminal
- climate criminal
- criminal against humanity
- November criminal
- petty criminal
- thought criminal
- war criminal
- age of criminal responsibility
- anticriminal
- archcriminal
- certificate of no criminal conviction
- criminal code
- criminal conversation
- criminaldom
- criminalese
- criminaless
- criminalisation
- criminalise
- criminalish
- criminalism
- criminalist
- criminalistic
- criminalistics
- criminality
- criminalization
- criminalize
- criminal law
- criminal lawyer
- criminally
- criminal negligence
- criminalness
- criminal offence
- criminal offense
- criminaloid
- criminal procedure
- criminal prosecution
- criminal prosecutor
- criminal psychologist
- criminal psychology
- criminal record
- criminal science
- criminal scientist
- criminal tool
- criminal tribe
- criminigger
- criminogenic
- criminology
- crimmigrant
- crimmigration
- District of Criminals
- medicocriminal
- noncriminal
- pseudocriminal
- quasicriminal
- semicriminal
- subcriminal
Phrases with criminal
- criminal laws
- criminal spin
- criminal codes
- criminal tools
- criminal tribes
- criminal lawyers
- criminal records
- criminal offences
- criminal offenses
- criminal procedures
- criminal scientists
- criminal negligences
17 more phrasesFewer phrases
- criminal prosecutors
- Criminal News Network
- criminal prosecutions
- white-collar criminal
- criminal psychologists
- criminal record certificate
- criminal record certificates
- International Criminal Court
- certificate of criminal record
- certificates of criminal record
- extract from the criminal record
- extracts from the criminal record
- certificate of clean criminal record
- enhanced criminal record certificate
- certificates of clean criminal record
- enhanced criminal record certificates
- certificates of no criminal conviction
Questions about criminal
- What does criminal mean?
- Criminal means against the law; forbidden by law.
- What is criminal in Hindi?
- Criminal in Hindi is आपराधिक (āprādhik), अपराधी (aprādhī), दोषी (doṣī). See Criminal meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is criminal?
- Criminal can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce criminal?
- Criminal is pronounced /ˈkɹɪm.ɪ.nəl/ (UK).
Words near criminal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: criminal (page history and authors); criminal (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಅಪರಾಧಿ (Kannada) (page history and authors); criminal (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-criminal.ogg.
Cite this entry: “criminal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/criminal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.