de-criminalize

verb (used with object), de·crim·i·nal·ized, de·crim·i·nal·iz·ing.

to eliminate criminal penalties for or remove legal restrictions against: to decriminalize marijuana.

Also, especially British, de·crim·i·nal·ise.

Origin:
1965–70, Americanism; de- + criminal + -ize

Related forms

de·crim·i·nal·i·za·tion, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To de-criminalize

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World English Dictionary

decriminalize or decriminalise (diːˈkrɪmən^əˌlaɪz)

—vb
	(tr) to remove (an action) from the legal category of criminal offence: to decriminalize the possession of marijuana

decriminalise or decriminalise

—vb

decriminali'zation or decriminalise

—n

decriminali'sation or decriminalise

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10

De-criminalize is always a great word to know.

So is callithumpian. Does it mean:

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

decriminalize

1963, "to reform a criminal," back-formation from decriminalization. Meaning "to make legal something that formerly had been illegal" was in use by 1970 (there are isolated instances back to 1867).

Matching Quote

"In France, and at the most important period of our history, Catherine de' Medici has suffered more from popular error than any other woman, unless it be Brunehaut or Frédégonde; while Marie de' Medici, whose every action was prejudicial to France, has escaped the disgrace that should cover her name.... Catherine de' Medici ... saved the throne of France, she maintained [the] Royal authority under circumstances to which more than one great prince would have succumbed. Face to face with such leaders of the factions and ambitions of the houses of Guise and of Bourbon as the two Cardinals de Lorraine and the two "Balafrès," the two Princes de Condé, Queen Jeanne d'Albret, Henri IV, the Connétable de Montmorency, Calvin, the Colignys and Théodore de Bèze, she was forced to put forth the rarest fine qualities, the most essential gifts of statesmanship, under the fire of the Calvinist press."

-Honoré De Balzac

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