crime

A2 Topic:Crime & Justice

US /ˈkraɪm/ UK /kɹaɪm/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like climb /l/ vs /r/ Sounds like clime /l/ vs /r/

noun verb Freq #856

Meanings

1

noun
An act that breaks the law and can be punished.

Stealing a car is a serious crime.
2

noun
Illegal activity in general.

The police are working hard to reduce crime in the city.
3

noun
Something that seems very wrong or shameful, even if it is not against the law.

It's a crime to throw away so much good food.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an act that breaks the law... criminal offence

2 noun · illegal activity in general. criminality delinquency

More malefactionperpetrationunlawunlawfulness

Opposites

noncrime

Word family

Forms crimes

Derived forms aftercrimeanticrimeautocrimebiocrimecrimancecrime-bustercrime-fightercrime-freecrime-riddencrimebustercrimebustingcrimefighter

Related forms delictualfelony offence sin

Common collocations

Etymology

From Middle English cryme, crime, from Old French crime, crimne, from Latin crīmen. Displaced native Old English firen.

*krey- Proto-Indo-European cryme Middle English crime Old French crīmen Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Crime & Justice

# crime

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** ˈkraɪm
**IPA (UK):** kɹaɪm
**Frequency rank:** 856

## Meanings
1. An act that breaks the law and can be punished.
2. Illegal activity in general.
3. Something that seems very wrong or shameful, even if it is not against the law.

## Examples
- Stealing a car is a serious crime.
- The police are working hard to reduce crime in the city.
- It's a crime to throw away so much good food.

## Synonyms
- criminality
- delinquency
- malefaction
- perpetration
- unlaw
- unlawfulness

## Antonyms
- noncrime

## Derived Forms
- aftercrime
- anticrime
- autocrime
- biocrime
- crimance
- crime-buster
- crime-fighter
- crime-free
- crime-ridden
- crimebuster
- crimebusting
- crimefighter

## Related Forms
- delictual
- felony
- offence
- sin

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *krey-
- Root: cryme
- Root: crime
- Root: crīmen

## Etymology
From Middle English cryme, crime, from Old French crime, crimne, from Latin crīmen. Displaced native Old English firen.

## AI Etymology
crime comes from Middle English cryme, crime, from Old French crime, crimne, from Latin crīmen. Displaced native Old English firen. The historical chain includes Proto-Indo-European *krey-, Middle English cryme, Old French crime, Latin crīmen. Current senses include An act that breaks the law and can be punished and Illegal activity in general. English relatives and later formations include aftercrime, anticrime, autocrime, delictual, felony.

## Topics
- Crime & Justice

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