- [usually before noun] (rather formal or law) connected with or involving crime
- It should be a criminal offence to inflict cruelty on any wild animal.
- Criminal activities pose significant threats to the economy and national security.
- a criminal act punishable by up to five years in jail
- She has been cleared of criminal negligence (= the illegal act of somebody failing to do something that they should do, with the result that somebody else is harmed).
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
- [only before noun] connected to the laws that deal with crime
- the criminal justice system
- to bring criminal charges against somebody
- a criminal lawyer/court/trial
- a criminal investigation
- a criminal prosecution/conviction
- a criminal case
- The former minister could face criminal proceedings over his involvement in the deal.
- morally wrong
- This is a criminal waste of resources.
Word Originlate Middle English (as an adjective): from late Latin criminalis, from Latin crimen ‘judgement, offence’, crimin-, based on cernere ‘to judge’.
Check pronunciation:
criminal