Adjacent Words

Criminal definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CRIMINAL, a.
1. Guilty of a crime; applied to persons.
2. Partaking of a crime; involving a crime; that violates public law, divine or human; as, theft is a criminal act.
3. That violates moral obligation; wicked.
4. Relating to crimes; opposed to civil; as a criminal code; criminal law.
CRIMINAL, n. A person who has committed an offense against public law; a violator of law, divine or human. More particularly, a person indicted or charged with a public offense, and one who is found guilty, by verdict, confession or proof.
Criminal conversation, the illegal commerce of the sexes; adultery.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure; "a criminal waste of talent"; "a deplorable act of violence"; "adultery is as reprehensible for a husband as for a wife" [syn: condemnable, criminal, deplorable, reprehensible, vicious]
2: guilty of crime or serious offense; "criminal in the sight of God and man"
3: involving or being or having the nature of a crime; "a criminal offense"; "criminal abuse"; "felonious intent" [syn: criminal, felonious] n
1: someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime [syn: criminal, felon, crook, outlaw, malefactor]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French or Late Latin; Anglo-French criminal, from Late Latin criminalis, from Latin crimin-, crimen crime Date: 15th century 1. relating to, involving, or being a crime <criminal neglect> 2. relating to crime or to the prosecution of suspects in a crime <criminal statistics> <brought criminal action> 3. guilty of crime; also of or befitting a criminal <a criminal mind> 4. disgraceful • criminally adverb II. noun Date: circa 1626 1. one who has committed a crime 2. a person who has been convicted of a crime

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. a person who has committed a crime or crimes. --adj. 1 of, involving, or concerning crime (criminal records). 2 having committed (and usu. been convicted of) a crime. 3 Law relating to or expert in criminal law rather than civil or political matters (criminal code; criminal lawyer). 4 colloq. scandalous, deplorable. Phrases and idioms: criminal law law concerned with punishment of offenders (opp. civil law). criminal libel see LIBEL. Derivatives: criminality n. criminally adv. Etymology: ME f. LL criminalis (as CRIME)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Criminal Crim"i*nal, n. One who has commited a crime; especially, one who is found guilty by verdict, confession, or proof; a malefactor; a felon.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Criminal Crim"i*nal (kr?m"?-nal), a. [L. criminalis, fr. crimen: cf. F. criminel. See Crime.] 1. Guilty of crime or sin. The neglect of any of the relative duties renders us criminal in the sight of God. --Rogers. 2. Involving a crime; of the nature of a crime; -- said of an act or of conduct; as, criminal carelessness. Foppish and fantastic ornaments are only indications of vice, not criminal in themselves. --Addison. 3. Relating to crime; -- opposed to civil; as, the criminal code. The officers and servants of the crown, violating the personal liberty, or other right of the subject . . . were in some cases liable to criminal process. --Hallam. Criminal action (Law), an action or suit instituted to secure conviction and punishment for a crime. Criminal conversation (Law), unlawful intercourse with a married woman; adultery; -- usually abbreviated, crim. con. Criminal law, the law which relates to crimes.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(criminals) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A criminal is a person who regularly commits crimes. A group of gunmen attacked a prison and set free nine criminals in Moroto. N-COUNT 2. Criminal means connected with crime. Her husband faces various criminal charges... ADJ: usu ADJ n 3. If you describe an action as criminal, you think it is very wrong or a serious mistake. He said a full-scale dispute involving strikes would be criminal. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Grossly contrary to law, illegal, felonious, tending to crime, stained by crime. 2. Culpable, guilty, wicked, iniquitous, flagitious. II. n. Culprit, delinquent, offender, transgressor, trespasser, malefactor, convict, felon.

Moby Thesaurus

Judas, Mafioso, aberrant, abnormal, abominable, actionable, against the law, amoral, anarchic, anarchistic, anomic, arraignable, arrant, at fault, atrocious, bad, bad guy, bad person, base, betrayer, black, black-market, blackguard, blamable, blameworthy, bootleg, censurable, chargeable, conscienceless, contraband, contrary to law, convict, corrupt, corrupted, crook, crooked, culpable, culprit, damnable, dark, deceiver, delinquent, depraved, desperado, desperate criminal, deviant, devious, disgraceful, dishonest, dishonorable, double-dealer, doubtful, dubious, evasive, evil, evildoer, evildoing, execrable, faulty, felon, felonious, fishy, flagitious, flagrant, flawed, foul, fraudulent, fugitive, gallows bird, gangster, gaolbird, guilty, hardly the thing, heinous, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, ignominious, ill-got, ill-gotten, illegal, illegitimate, illicit, immoral, impeachable, impermissible, implicated, improper, inappropriate, incorrect, inculpated, indecorous, indictable, indirect, infamous, iniquitous, insidious, involved, irregular, jailbird, justiciable, knave, knavish, lawbreaker, lawless, low, malefactor, malefactory, malevolent, malfeasant, malfeasor, miscreant, misfeasor, mobster, monstrous, naughty, nefarious, nonconstitutional, nonlegal, nonlicit, not done, not kosher, not the thing, off-base, off-color, offender, out-of-line, outlaw, outlawed, peccant, public enemy, punishable, questionable, quisling, racketeer, rank, reprehensible, reproachable, reprobate, reprovable, rotten, roughneck, ruffian, sacrilegious, scandalous, scofflaw, scoundrel, shady, shameful, shameless, shifty, sinful, sinister, sinner, slippery, suspicious, swindler, terrible, terrorist, thief, thug, to blame, tough, traitor, transgressor, trespasser, triable, tricky, two-timer, unallowed, unauthorized, unconscienced, unconscientious, unconscionable, unconstitutional, under-the-counter, under-the-table, underhand, underhanded, undue, unethical, unfit, unfitting, unforgivable, unlawful, unofficial, unpardonable, unprincipled, unrighteous, unsavory, unscrupulous, unseemly, unspeakable, unstatutory, unstraightforward, unsuitable, unwarrantable, unwarranted, unworthy, vicious, vile, villain, villainous, wicked, without remorse, without shame, worker of ill, wrong, wrongdoer, wrongdoing, wrongful