# criminal

Pronunciation: say "KRIM-i-nuhl" /ˈkɹɪm.ɪ.nəl/

## Adjective

1. Relating to crime or to the branch of law that deals with it.
   - Simple: Having to do with crime or the laws that punish it.
   - _He specializes in criminal law rather than corporate cases._
   - _The criminal justice system handles cases differently from civil courts._
3. Forbidden by law and punishable as a crime.
   - Simple: Against the law in a way that counts as a crime.
   - _Knowingly selling stolen goods is criminal, even if the seller did not steal them._
   - _The new statute made certain financial transactions criminal._
4. Guilty of breaking the law; having committed a crime.
   - Simple: Having broken the law by committing a crime.
   - _The organization was deemed criminal after years of fraud._
   - _The investigation exposed a criminal network of officials who had been taking bribes for years._
5. Outrageously bad or undesirable, condemned as though it were an actual crime.
   - Simple: Very bad or shameful, even though it is not really against the law.
   - _Letting such talent go unused is simply criminal._
   - _The prices they charge for bottled water at the airport are criminal._

## Noun

2. A person who is guilty of a crime, especially one who breaks the law.
   - Simple: A person who has broken the law and is guilty of a crime.
   - _The court sentenced the convicted criminal to ten years in prison._
   - _Hardened criminals were transferred to a maximum-security facility._

## Origin

Latin crimen, meaning "crime," gave Late Latin criminalis; Anglo-Norman criminal then carried it into Middle English, where it was spelled cryminal.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/criminal (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).