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Militant vs Criminal - What's the difference?

militant | criminal |

As adjectives the difference between militant and criminal

is that militant is fighting or disposed to fight; belligerent, warlike while criminal is being against the law; forbidden by law.

As nouns the difference between militant and criminal

is that militant is (obsolete) a soldier, a combatant while criminal is a person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.

militant

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Fighting or disposed to fight; belligerent, warlike.
  • * 2012 , (Christopher Clark), The Sleepwalkers , Penguin 2013, p. 394:
    • The upper tiers of the foreign ministry were quick to embrace a militant policy.
  • Aggressively supporting of a political or social cause; adamant, combative.

    • Noun

    (wikipedia militant) (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A soldier, a combatant.
  • An entrenched or aggressive adherent to a particular cause, now especially a member of a particular ideological faction.
  • * 2008', '' , Wikinews:
    • Officials in Pakistan have confirmed that at least 250 schoolchildren between 12 and 18 years old and several teachers were taken hostage by at least seven militants inside a high school in Domail.
  • Specifically, someone who supports the Trotskyite political view expressed in the newspaper Militant , or who engages in aggressive left-wing politics.

    • Derived terms

    * Militant Tendency * ultramilitant

    Related terms

    * military * militia

    criminal

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Being against the law; forbidden by law.
  • * Addison
    • Foppish and fantastic ornaments are only indications of vice, not criminal in themselves.
  • Guilty of breaking the law.
  • * Rogers
    • The neglect of any of the relative duties renders us criminal in the sight of God.
  • Of or relating to crime or penal law.
  • * Hallam
    • 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.
  • (figuratively) Abhorrent or very undesirable, even if allowed by law.
    • ''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

    * illegal

    Derived terms

    * criminal conversation * criminalisation * criminalist * criminalistics * criminality * criminalize * criminal law * criminal-law * criminally * criminal negligence * criminalness * criminal-offence * criminal offence * criminal procedure * criminal record

    Related terms

    * criminate * crimination * criminologist * criminology * criminousness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • 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 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—’}}

    Synonyms

    * lawbreaker * offender * perpetrator * See also