criminal

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   guilty of crime or serious offense

   criminal in the sight of God and man

2. 2
   adj

   involving or being or having the nature of a crime

   a criminal offense

3. 3
   adj

   bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure

   a criminal waste of talent

4. 4
   adj

   Against the law; forbidden by law.

   Foppish and fantastic ornaments are only indications of vice, not criminal in themselves.

5. 5
   adj

   Guilty of breaking the law.

   The neglect of any of the relative duties renders us criminal in the sight of God.

6. 6
   adj

   Of or relating to crime or penal law.

   His long criminal record suggests that he is a dangerous man.

7. 7
   adj

   Abhorrent or very undesirable.

   Printing such asinine opinions is criminal!

8. 8
   noun

   A person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.

   ‘[…] There's every Staffordshire crime-piece ever made in this cabinet, and that's unique. The Van Hoyer Museum in New York hasn't that very rare second version of Maria Marten's Red Barn over there, nor the little Frederick George Manning—he was the criminal Dickens saw hanged on the roof of the gaol in Horsemonger Lane, by the way—’

Etymology

From Middle English cryminal, borrowed from Anglo-Norman criminal, from Late Latin criminalis, from Latin crimen (“crime”).