criminal

criminal — noun

1. someone who does something that the law forbids, for example stealing, hurting a

1.nounB1
Definition

someone who does something that the law forbids, for example stealing, hurting another person, or damaging property

Example

The police arrested the criminal outside his apartment building last night.

Kemi was shocked to learn that her neighbour was a convicted criminal.

collocation: convicted criminal

Common collocations
  • hardened criminal
  • convicted criminal
  • violent criminal
  • career criminal
  • petty criminal
Synonyms
  • offender

    more formal; often used in legal or official contexts (e.g. a repeat offender)

  • lawbreaker

    less common; emphasises the act of breaking the law itself

  • culprit

    focuses on someone responsible for a specific wrongdoing, not necessarily a legal crime

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

a [adjective] criminal

the criminal who/that …

Usage Note

Often modified by an adjective describing the type or seriousness of the offence — e.g. violent criminal, petty criminal, career criminal.

Common Mistakes

The thief is a criminal who stole my bag.
The thief who stole my bag is a criminal.
'criminal' is a category label, not a title; it sounds odd in the same clause as the specific crime. Use it to name the type of person rather than as a direct appositive.

criminal — adjective

Word family

  • crime
    nounB1
  • criminally
    adverbB2
  • criminalize
    verbC1
  • criminality
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Illegal is the broadest of the three — anything that breaks a law, from parking a car in a no-parking zone to murder, is illegal. Unlawful is more formal and typically appears in legal documents or official charges (e.g. 'unlawful entry'). Criminal is more specific: it describes acts that are serious enough to be treated as crimes by the state, or it refers to the system that handles such acts (criminal law, criminal investigation). A shoplifting offence is illegal and criminal, but running a red light is illegal without being labelled criminal in everyday language. In legal writing, however, the boundaries are tighter — 'criminal offence' has a precise definition that varies by jurisdiction.

illegal ↗unlawful ↗criminal ↗

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Criminal entered English through Old French 'criminel', which came from Latin 'criminalis' — itself built on 'crimen', meaning 'accusation, charge, or crime'. The word was originally used in legal contexts for anyone accused of a crime, and later broadened to include those convicted. The informal adjective sense ('shockingly bad') developed in the 1800s as figurative language.