Word.ws English Dictionary

decriminalize

/diːˈkɹɪmɪnəlaɪz/

decriminalize verb: to change the laws so something is no longer a crime.

Verb

decriminalize (third-person singular simple present decriminalizes, present participle decriminalizing, simple past and past participle decriminalized)

  1. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To change the laws so something is no longer a crime.
    • The march to decriminalize drugs moved further across the nation on Tuesday despite continued federal prohibition.2020 April 11, Thomas Fuller, “Oregon Decriminalizes Small Amounts of Heroin and Cocaine; Four States Legalize Marijuana”, in The New York Times
    • The House of Representatives approved decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level on Friday in the first time Congress has acted on the issue.2020 April 12, Deirdre Walsh, “House Approves Decriminalizing Marijuana; Bill To Stall In Senate”, in NPR
    Synonyms:
    legalize
    Antonyms:
    criminalize

Synonyms of decriminalize

Antonyms

Forms of decriminalize

third-person singular presentdecriminalizes
present participledecriminalizing
past participledecriminalized
pastdecriminalized
alternative formdecriminalise

Past tense of decriminalize: decriminalized

Origin of decriminalize

Back-formation from decriminalization, equivalent to de- + criminalize.

Words formed from decriminalize

Questions about decriminalize

What does decriminalize mean?
Decriminalize means to change the laws so something is no longer a crime.
What part of speech is decriminalize?
Decriminalize is a verb.
How do you pronounce decriminalize?
Decriminalize is pronounced /diːˈkɹɪmɪnəlaɪz/ (UK).
What is the past tense of decriminalize?
The past tense of decriminalize is decriminalized.

Words near decriminalize in the dictionary

  1. decriminalise
  2. decriminalised
  3. decriminalises
  4. decriminalising
  5. decriminalization
  6. decriminalize
  7. decriminalized
  8. decriminalizer
  9. decriminalizers
  10. decriminalizes
  11. decriminalizing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: decriminalize (page history and authors). 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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-decriminalize.wav.

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