What is the difference between crime and criminal?
crime | criminal | Derived terms |
(countable) A specific act committed in violation of the law.
(uncountable) The practice or habit of committing crimes.
(uncountable) criminal acts collectively.
Any great wickedness or sin; iniquity.
* Alexander Pope
(obsolete) That which occasions crime.
* Spenser
To commit (s).
* 1987 , Robert Sampson, Yesterday's Faces: From the Dark Side (ISBN 0879723637), page 61:
Being against the law; forbidden by law.
* Addison
Guilty of breaking the law.
* Rogers
Of or relating to crime or penal law.
* Hallam
(figuratively) Abhorrent or very undesirable, even if allowed by law.
A person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
, title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=3
Criminal is a derived term of crime.
As nouns the difference between crime and criminal
is that crime is a specific act committed in violation of the law while criminal is a person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.As a verb crime
is to commit crime(s).As an adjective criminal is
being against the law; forbidden by law.crime
English
(wikipedia crime)Noun
- Crime doesn’t pay.
- No crime' was thine, if 'tis no ' crime to love.
- the tree of life, the crime of our first father's fall
Usage notes
* Adjectives often applied to "crime": organized, brutal, terrible, horrible, heinous, horrendous, hideous, financial, sexual, international.Synonyms
* (criminal acts collectively) delinquency, crime rate, criminalityHyponyms
* * * * * * *Derived terms
* crime against humanity * crime against nature * crimebuster * crime index * crime mapping * crime rate * criminal * criminal law * criminal record * criminology * decriminalization * international crime * organised crime / organized crime * sexual crime * war crime * white collar crimeVerb
(en-verb)- If, during the 1920s, the master criminal was a gamester, criming for self expression, during the 1930s he performed in other ways for other purposes.
See also
* offence * sin * administrative infraction (less serious violation of the law) ----criminal
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Foppish and fantastic ornaments are only indications of vice, not criminal in themselves.
- The neglect of any of the relative duties renders us criminal in the sight of God.
- 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.
- His long criminal record suggests that he is a dangerous man.
- ''Printing such asinine opinions without rebuttal is criminal , even when not libel!
Usage notes
* Nouns to which "criminal" is often applied: law, justice, court, procedure, prosecution, intent, case, record, act, action, behavior, code, offence, liability, investigation, conduct, defense, trial, history, responsibility, lawyer, tribunal, appeal, process, background, mind, conspiracy, evidence, gang, organization, underworld, jurisprudence, offender, jury, police, past, group, punishment, attorney, violence, report, career, psychology.Synonyms
* illegalDerived terms
* criminal conversation * criminalisation * criminalist * criminalistics * criminality * criminalize * criminal law * criminal-law * criminally * criminal negligence * criminalness * criminal-offence * criminal offence * criminal procedure * criminal recordNoun
(en noun)citation, passage=‘[…] 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 gaol in Horsemonger Lane, by the way—’}}
