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Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary crim·i·nal
ETYMOLOGY Middle English, from Anglo-French or Late Latin; Anglo-French criminal, from Late Latin criminalis, from Latin crimin-, crimen crime DATE 15th century 1. relating to, involving, or being a crime criminal neglect 2. relating to crime or to the prosecution of suspects in a crime criminal statistics brought criminal action 3. guilty of crime; also : of or befitting a criminal a criminal mind 4. disgraceful • crim·i·nal·ly adverb
noun DATE circa 1626 1. one who has committed a crime 2. a person who has been convicted of a crime English Etymology criminal early 15c. (adj.), from Fr. criminel (11c.), from L. criminalis, from L. crimen (gen. criminis); see crime, preserving the Latin -n-. As a noun, from 1620s. Criminal law (or criminal justice) distinguished from civil in English at least since late 15c. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary-牛津双解-OALD7 ☞ criminal crim·inal / 5kriminl / adjective1. [usually before noun] connected with or involving crime 犯罪的；犯法的；涉及犯罪的: criminal offences / behaviour 刑事犯罪；犯罪行为 criminal damage (= the crime of damaging sb's property deliberately) 刑事损害 criminal negligence (= the illegal act of sb failing to do sth that they should do, with the result that sb else is harmed) 过失犯罪 2. [only before noun] connected to the laws that deal with crime 刑法的；刑事的: criminal law 刑法 the criminal justice system 刑事审判制度 a criminal lawyer 刑事诉讼律师 to bring criminal charges against sb 对某人提起刑事诉讼 ⇨ compare civil (3) 3. morally wrong 道德上错误的；不道德的: This is a criminal waste of resources. 这是一种浪费资源的可耻行为。 noun a person who commits a crime 罪犯: Society does not know how to deal with hardened criminals (= people who regularly commit crimes and are not sorry for what they do). 社会不知道怎样处置惯犯。 (especially NAmE) a career criminal 职业罪犯 Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English criminal noun ADJ. dangerous, violent | serious | habitual, hardened | professional | master | petty | convicted | known He has been associating with known criminals. | notorious | common She was treated like a common criminal. | white-collar | war He was tried as a war criminal. VERB + CRIMINAL catch I told him to pass the information to the police so they could catch the criminals. OLT criminal noun ⇨ criminal criminal adj. ⇨ illegal (a criminal offence)⇨ outrageous (a criminal waste) Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged crim·i·nal I. \ˈkrimənəl, -mnəl\ adjective Etymology: Middle English cryminall, from Middle French or Late Latin; Middle French criminel, from Late Latin criminalis, from Latin crimin-, crimen crime + -alis -al — more at crime 1. : involving or being a crime < criminal carelessness > 2. : relating to crime or its punishment < a criminal action > — distinguished from civil 3. : guilty of crime or serious offense < he created a government that was frankly criminal — Eric Linklater > < criminal in the sight of God and man > 4. a. : reprehensible , blameworthy , disgraceful < she was a criminal idiot to marry a man with his record > < it was one of those criminal adventures that marked the road of the Communist International during the twenties — D.J.Dallin > b. : excessive , extortionate < saddle horses to be had not too far from the campus, but the rates were absolutely criminal — Edward Newhouse > 5. : of or suitable to a criminal < the twists of the criminal mind > 6. : concerned with crime or criminal law II. noun (-s) Etymology: French criminel, from criminel, adjective 1. : one that has committed a crime : malefactor 2. : a person who has been convicted of one or more crimes < habitual criminals > Synonyms: felon , convict , malefactor , culprit , delinquent : these words mean, in common, one guilty of a transgression or an offense, especially against the law. criminal designates one who commits some serious violation of the law, of public trust, or common decency, as vicious unwarranted attack, embezzlement, or murder. felon , the legal term for one popularly called a criminal, designates one guilty of a felony, which usually with legal exactness covers all lawbreaking punishable by death or prolonged confinement (as in a state penitentiary) and is distinguished from a misdemeanor < men were transported with the worst felons for poaching a few hares or pheasants — G.B.Shaw > < the casual or accidental felon who is impelled into a misdeed by force of circumstances — R.S.Banay > convict designates one convicted of a crime or felony but has come more generally to signify any person serving a long prison term < the stranger turned out to be a convict who had escaped on the way to prison > < a riot among convicts in a state penitentiary > malefactor signifies one who has committed an evil deed or serious offense but suggests little or no relation to courts or punishment < most of our malefactors, from statesmen to thieves — T.S.Eliot > < a malefactor robbing small stores at night and setting fire to them > culprit often carries the weakened sense of one guilty of a crime < after the series of crimes, the police tried for several weeks to find the culprit > but more generally either suggests a trivial fault or offense, especially of a child < the culprits were two boys, one about 12 years old, the other about 10 — Green Peyton > or applies to a person or thing that causes some undesirable condition or situation < another group of supposed culprits who are being blamed for the present inflationary situation — T.O.Waage > < the culprit holding up world peace and understanding — W.A.Lydgate > delinquent applies to an offender against duty or the law especially in a degree not constituting crime; in its present semilegal use, in application to juvenile offenders against civil or moral law, it usually implies a habitual tendency to commit certain offenses and contrasts with criminal in implying a sociological or psychological rather than judicial attitude toward the offender < whether a customer who has missed a payment is … a habitual delinquent — C.W.Phelps > < we label as delinquents those who do not conform to the legal and moral codes of society — Federal Probation > |
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