Criminal

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: crim=i=nal

CIDE DICTIONARY

Criminal, a. [L. criminalis, fr. crimen: cf. F. criminel. See Crime.].

•  Guilty of crime or sin.  [1913 Webster]

  "The neglect of any of the relative duties renders us criminal in the sight of God."  [1913 Webster]
•  Involving a crime; of the nature of a crime; -- said of an act or of conduct; as, criminal carelessness.  [1913 Webster]

  "Foppish and fantastic ornaments are only indications of vice, not criminal in themselves."  [1913 Webster]
•  Relating to crime; -- opposed to civil; as, the criminal code.  [1913 Webster]

  "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."  [1913 Webster]

Criminal action (Law), an action or suit instituted to secure conviction and punishment for a crime. -- Criminal conversation (Law), unlawful intercourse with a married woman; adultery; -- usually abbreviated, crim. con. -- Criminal law, the law which relates to crimes.

Criminal, n. 

 One who has commited a crime; especially, one who is found guilty by verdict, confession, or proof; a malefactor; a felon.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Criminal, n. & adj.
--n. a person who has committed a crime or crimes.
--adj.
1 of, involving, or concerning crime (criminal records).
2 having committed (and usu. been convicted of) a crime.
3 Law relating to or expert in criminal law rather than civil or political matters (criminal code; criminal lawyer).
4 colloq. scandalous, deplorable.

Idiom

criminal law law concerned with punishment of offenders (opp. civil law). criminal libel see LIBEL.

Derivative

criminality n. criminally adv.

Etymology

ME f. LL criminalis (as CRIME)

THESAURUS

Criminal

Judas, Mafioso, aberrant, abnormal, abominable, actionable, against the law, amoral, anarchic, anarchistic, anomic, arraignable, arrant, at fault, atrocious, bad, bad guy, bad person, base, betrayer, black, black-market, blackguard, blamable, blameworthy, bootleg, censurable, chargeable, conscienceless, contraband, contrary to law, convict, corrupt, corrupted, crook, crooked, culpable, culprit, damnable, dark, deceiver, delinquent, depraved, desperado, desperate criminal, deviant, devious, disgraceful, dishonest, dishonorable, double-dealer, doubtful, dubious, evasive, evil, evildoer, evildoing, execrable, faulty, felon, felonious, fishy, flagitious, flagrant, flawed, foul, fraudulent, fugitive, gallows bird, gangster, gaolbird, guilty, hardly the thing, heinous, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, ignominious, ill-got, ill-gotten, illegal, illegitimate, illicit, immoral, impeachable, impermissible, implicated, improper, inappropriate, incorrect, inculpated, indecorous, indictable, indirect, infamous, iniquitous, insidious, involved, irregular, jailbird, justiciable, knave, knavish, lawbreaker, lawless, low, malefactor, malefactory, malevolent, malfeasant, malfeasor, miscreant, misfeasor, mobster, monstrous, naughty, nefarious, nonconstitutional, nonlegal, nonlicit, not done, not kosher, not the thing, off-base, off-color, offender, out-of-line, outlaw, outlawed, peccant, public enemy, punishable, questionable, quisling, racketeer, rank, reprehensible, reproachable, reprobate, reprovable, rotten, roughneck, ruffian, sacrilegious, scandalous, scofflaw, scoundrel, shady, shameful, shameless, shifty, sinful, sinister, sinner, slippery, suspicious, swindler, terrible, terrorist, thief, thug, to blame, tough, traitor, transgressor, trespasser, triable, tricky, two-timer, unallowed, unauthorized, unconscienced, unconscientious, unconscionable, unconstitutional, under-the-counter, under-the-table, underhand, underhanded, undue, unethical, unfit, unfitting, unforgivable, unlawful, unofficial, unpardonable, unprincipled, unrighteous, unsavory, unscrupulous, unseemly, unspeakable, unstatutory, unstraightforward, unsuitable, unwarrantable, unwarranted, unworthy, vicious, vile, villain, villainous, wicked, without remorse, without shame, worker of ill, wrong, wrongdoer, wrongdoing, wrongful

ROGET THESAURUS

Criminal

Vice

N vice, evil-doing, evil courses, wrongdoing, wickedness, viciousness, iniquity, peccability, demerit, sin, Adam, old Adam, offending Adam, immorality, impropriety, indecorum, scandal, laxity, looseness of morals, enphagy, dophagy, exophagy, want of principle, want of ballast, obliquity, backsliding, infamy, demoralization, pravity, depravity, pollution, hardness of heart, brutality, corruption, knavery, profligacy, flagrancy, atrocity, cannibalism, lesbianism, Sadism, infirmity, weakness, weakness of the flesh, frailty, imperfection, error, weak side, foible, failing, failure, crying sin, besetting sin, defect, deficiency, cloven foot, lowest dregs of vice, sink of iniquity, Alsatian den, gusto picaresco, fault, crime, criminality, sinner, brothel, gambling house, joint, opium den, shooting gallery, crack house, vicious, sinful, sinning, wicked, iniquitous, immoral, unrighteous, wrong, criminal, naughty, incorrect, unduteous, undutiful, unprincipled, lawless, disorderly, contra bonos mores, indecorous, unseemly, improper, dissolute, profligate, scampish, unworthy, worthless, desertless, disgraceful, recreant, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, discreditable, disreputable, Sadistic, base, sinister, scurvy, foul, gross, vile, black, grave, facinorous, felonious, nefarious, shameful, scandalous, infamous, villainous, of a deep dye, heinous, flagrant, flagitious, atrocious, incarnate, accursed, Mephistophelian, satanic, diabolic, hellish, infernal, stygian, fiendlike, hell-born, demoniacal, devilish, fiendish, miscreated, misbegotten, demoralized, corrupt, depraved, evil-minded, evil-disposed, ill-conditioned, malevolent, heartless, graceless, shameless, virtueless, abandoned, lost to virtue, unconscionable, sunk in iniquity, lost in iniquity, steeped in iniquity, incorrigible, irreclaimable, obdurate, reprobate, past praying for, culpable, reprehensible, unjustifiable, indefensible, inexcusable, inexpiable, unpardonable, irremissible, weak, frail, lax, infirm, imperfect, indiscrete, demoralizing, degrading, wrong, sinfully, without excuse, Int, O tempora!, O mores!, alitur vitium vivitque tegendo, genus est mortis male vivere, mala mens malus animus, nemo repente fuit turpissimus, the trail of the serpent is over them all, to sanction vice and hunt decorum down.

Bad Man

N bad man, wrongdoer, worker of iniquity, evildoer, sinner, the wicked, bad example, villain, rascal, scoundrel, miscreant, budmash, caitiff, wretch, reptile, viper, serpent, cockatrice, basilisk, urchin, tiger, monster, devil, devil incarnate, demon in human shape, Nana Sahib, hellhound, hellcat, rakehell, bad woman, jade, Jezebel, scamp, scapegrace, rip, runagate, ne'er-do-well, reprobate, scalawag, scallawag, rou_e, rake, Sadist, skeesicks, skeezix, limb, one who has sold himself to the devil, fallen angel, ame damnee, vaurien, mauvais sujet, loose fish, sad dog, rounder, lost sheep, black sheep, castaway, recreant, defaulter, prodigal, rough, rowdy, hooligan, tough, ugly customer, mean mother, ruffian, bully, meanie, Jonathan Wild, hangman, incendiary, arsonist, fire bug, thief, murderer, terrorist, culprit, delinquent, crook, hoodlum, hood, criminal, thug, malefactor, offender, perpetrator, perp, disorderly person, misdemeanant, outlaw, scofflaw, vandal, felon, (convicted criminal), criminal, convict, prisoner, inmate, jail bird, ticket of leave man, multiple offender, blackguard, polisson, loafer, sneak, rapscallion, rascallion, cullion, mean wretch, varlet, kern, ame-de-boue, drole, cur, dog, hound, whelp, mongrel, lown, loon, runnion, outcast, vagabond, rogue, ronian, scum of the earth, riffraff, Arcades ambo, Int, sirrah!, Acherontis pabulum, gibier de potence, bad man, wrongdoer, worker of iniquity, evildoer, sinner, the wicked, bad example, villain, rascal, scoundrel, miscreant, budmash, caitiff, wretch, reptile, viper, serpent, cockatrice, basilisk, urchin, tiger, monster, devil, devil incarnate, demon in human shape, Nana Sahib, hellhound, hellcat, rakehell, bad woman, jade, Jezebel, scamp, scapegrace, rip, runagate, ne'er-do-well, reprobate, scalawag, scallawag, rou_e, rake, Sadist, skeesicks, skeezix, limb, one who has sold himself to the devil, fallen angel, ame damnee, vaurien, mauvais sujet, loose fish, sad dog, rounder, lost sheep, black sheep, castaway, recreant, defaulter, prodigal, rough, rowdy, hooligan, tough, ugly customer, mean mother, ruffian, bully, meanie, Jonathan Wild, hangman, incendiary, arsonist, fire bug, thief, murderer, terrorist, culprit, delinquent, crook, hoodlum, hood, criminal, thug, malefactor, offender, perpetrator, perp, disorderly person, misdemeanant, outlaw, scofflaw, vandal, felon, (convicted criminal), criminal, convict, prisoner, inmate, jail bird, ticket of leave man, multiple offender, blackguard, polisson, loafer, sneak, rapscallion, rascallion, cullion, mean wretch, varlet, kern, ame-de-boue, drole, cur, dog, hound, whelp, mongrel, lown, loon, runnion, outcast, vagabond, rogue, ronian, scum of the earth, riffraff, Arcades ambo, Int, sirrah!, Acherontis pabulum, gibier de potence.