Crime - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

crime

Audio Help [krahym] Pronunciation Key

–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 (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Crime

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

crime Audio Help (krīm) Pronunciation Key
n.

An act committed or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it and for which punishment is imposed upon conviction.
Unlawful activity: statistics relating to violent crime.
A serious offense, especially one in violation of morality.
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.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

crime
noun
1.	(criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act; "a long record of crimes"
2.	an evil act not necessarily punishable by law; "crimes of the heart"

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
crime1 [kraim] noun

act(s) punishable by law
Example: Murder is a crime; Crime is on the increase.

Arabic:	جَريمَـه
Chinese (Simplified):	罪行
Chinese (Traditional):	罪行
Czech:	zločin
Danish:	forbrydelse; ugerning
Dutch:	misdaad
Estonian:	kuritegu, kuritegevus
Finnish:	rikos, rikollisuus
French:	crime, criminalité
German:	das Verbrechen
Greek:	έγκλημα
Hungarian:	bűncselekmény; bűnözés
Icelandic:	glæpur
Indonesian:	kejahatan
Italian:	crimine; criminalità

Japanese:	犯罪
Korean:	범죄
Latvian:	noziegums
Lithuanian:	nusikaltimas, nusikalstamumas
Norwegian:	forbrytelse; kriminalitet
Polish:	zbrodnia
Portuguese (Brazil):	crime
Portuguese (Portugal):	crime
Romanian:	delict; criminalitate
Russian:	преступление
Slovak:	zločin
Slovenian:	zločin; kazniva dejanja
Spanish:	crimen, delito
Swedish:	brott
Turkish:	suç

crime2 [kraim] noun

something wrong though not illegal
Example: What a crime to cut down those trees!

Arabic:	جَريمَه، خَطأ عَظيم
Chinese (Simplified):	蠢事
Chinese (Traditional):	憾事，蠢事
Czech:	hřích
Danish:	forbrydelse; synd
Dutch:	schande
Estonian:	patuasi
Finnish:	synti
French:	crime
German:	das Verbrechen
Greek:	κρίμα, άδικο
Hungarian:	vétek
Icelandic:	ódæði; skömm
Indonesian:	salah
Italian:	crimine

Japanese:	けしからぬこと
Korean:	못된［몰상식한］ 짓
Latvian:	noziegums
Lithuanian:	nusikaltimas, piktadarystė
Norwegian:	skjendig handling
Polish:	zbrodnia
Portuguese (Brazil):	crime
Portuguese (Portugal):	crime
Romanian:	ticăloşie
Russian:	безобразие
Slovak:	hriech
Slovenian:	zločin
Spanish:	delito, crimen
Swedish:	oförsvarlighet, synd och skam
Turkish:	yazık, günah

See also: criminal

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Crime

Crime\ (kr[imac]m), n.[F. crime, fr. L. crimen judicial decision, that which is subjected to such a decision, charge, fault, crime, fr. the root of cernere to decide judicially. See Certain.]

1. Any violation of law, either divine or human; an omission of a duty commanded, or the commission of an act forbidden by law.

2. Gross violation of human law, in distinction from a misdemeanor or trespass, or other slight offense. Hence, also, any aggravated offense against morality or the public welfare; any outrage or great wrong. "To part error from crime." --Tennyson.

Note: Crimes, in the English common law, are grave offenses which were originally capitally punished (murder, rape, robbery, arson, burglary, and larceny), as distinguished from misdemeanors, which are offenses of a lighter grade. See Misdemeanors.

3. Any great wickedness or sin; iniquity.

No crime was thine, if 'tis no crime to love. --Pope.

4. That which occasion crime. [Obs.]

The tree of life, the crime of our first father's fall. --Spenser.

Capital crime, a crime punishable with death.

Syn: Sin; vice; iniquity; wrong.

Usage: Crime, Sin,Vice. Sin is the generic term, embracing wickedness of every kind, but specifically denoting an offense as committed against God. Crime is strictly a violation of law either human or divine; but in present usage the term is commonly applied to actions contrary to the laws of the State. Vice is more distinctively that which springs from the inordinate indulgence of the natural appetites, which are in themselves innocent. Thus intemperance, unchastity, duplicity, etc., are vices; while murder, forgery, etc., which spring from the indulgence of selfish passions, are crimes.

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CRIME

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