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CRIME

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crime

  [krahym]
Use CRIME in a Sentence
–noun
1. an action or an instance of negligence that is deemed injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the state and that is legally prohibited.
2. criminal activity and those engaged in it: to fight crime.
3. the habitual or frequent commission of crimes: a life of crime.
4. any offense, serious wrongdoing, or sin.
5. a foolish, senseless, or shameful act: It's a crime to let that beautiful garden go to ruin.
Origin:
1200–50; ME < AF, OF < L crīmin- (s. of crīmen) charge, crime

Related forms:
crimeless, adjective
crime⋅less⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. wrong; misdemeanor, tort, felony. 1, 4. Crime, offense, sin agree in meaning a breaking of law. Crime usually means any serious violation of human laws: the crime of treason or robbery. Offense is used of an infraction of either human or divine law, and does not necessarily mean a serious one: an offense leading to a jail sentence; an offense against morals. Sin means a breaking of moral or divine law: the sins of greed and lust.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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crime   (krīm)   
n.  

  1. An act committed or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it and for which punishment is imposed upon conviction.

  2. Unlawful activity: statistics relating to violent crime.

  3. A serious offense, especially one in violation of morality.

  4. An unjust, senseless, or disgraceful act or condition: It's a crime to squander our country's natural resources.


[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin crīmen; see krei- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

crime 
c.1250, from O.Fr. crimne, from L. crimen (gen. criminis) "charge, indictment, offense," from cernere "to decide, to sift" (see crisis). But Klein rejects this and suggests *cri-men, which would originally have been "cry of distress." The L. word is glossed in O.E. by facen, also "deceit, fraud, treachery." Crime wave first attested 1920 (in headline in the "Times" of London). Criminal (adj.) preserved the L. -n-; as a noun it is from c.1626.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: crime
Pronunciation: 'krIm
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French, from Latin crimen fault, accusation, crime
1 : conduct that is prohibited and has a specific punishment (as incarceration or fine) prescribed by public law —compare DELICT, TORT
2 : an offense against public law usually excluding a petty violation —see also FELONY, MISDEMEANOR
NOTE: Crimes in the common-law tradition were originally defined primarily by judicial decision. For the most part, common-law crimes are now codified. There is a general principle “nullum crimen sine lege,” that there can be no crime without a law. A crime generally consists of both conduct, known as the actus reus, and a concurrent state of mind, known as the mens rea.
3 : criminal activity
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Encyclopedia

crime

three classifications of criminal offense that are central to the administration of justice in many Roman- and civil-law countries (for distinctions in Anglo-American law covering analogous offenses, see felony and misdemeanour). Crimes in French law are the most serious offenses, punishable by death or prolonged imprisonment. A delit is any offense punishable by a short prison sentence, usually from one to five years, or a fine. Contraventions are minor offenses.

Learn more about crime with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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