crime

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

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /kɹaɪm/

• Audio (General American):

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• Rhymes: -aɪm

crime (countable and uncountable, plural crimes)

1. (countable) A specific act committed in violation of the law, especially criminal law.

   Synonyms: criminal offence, unlawfulness; see also Thesaurus:crime

   the commission of a crime

   • 2024 October 23, Tricia Escobedo, “AI-generated crimes, a treasure mystery, quick thinking by bus passengers: Catch up on the day’s stories”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     The generative AI chatbot, ChatGPT, can be duped into providing detailed advice on how to commit crimes — ranging from money laundering to the export of weapons to sanctioned countries — a tech startup found.

2. (countable) Any great sin or wickedness; iniquity.

   Synonyms: delinquency, wrongdoing; see also Thesaurus:misdeed

   Those methods of saving money should be a crime.

   • 1687 (date written), Alexander Pope, “Ode for Musick on St. Cecilia’s Day”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], →OCLC, canto VI, page 376:

     No crime was thine, if 'tis no crime to love.

3. (countable, obsolete) That which occasions crime.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 46:

     the tree of life, the crime of our first father's fall

4. (uncountable) Criminal acts collectively.

   Synonyms: criminality, delinquency

   an effort by the police to tackle crime in the city

   • 2025 March 19, Hira Humayun and Michael Rios, “Ecuador’s president invites foreign armies to fight gangs in the country”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     The State Department has given Ecuador $81 million since 2018 to help the country with its fight against organized crime and narcotics.

5. (uncountable) The habit or practice of committing crimes.

   Crime doesn’t pay.

• crime on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

crime (third-person singular simple present crimes, present participle criming, simple past and past participle crimed)

1. (UK, military, transitive) To subject to disciplinary punishment.
   • 1846, John Mercier McMullen, Camp and Barrack-room, Or, The British Army as it is, page 298:

     Nevertheless, in the course of a few days he is again intoxicated, creates disturbance in his quarters, is confined by his sergeant, crimed, and brought before the commanding officer […]

2. (nonce word) To commit crime.
   • 1987, Robert Sampson, Yesterday's Faces: From the Dark Side, →ISBN, page 61:

     If, during the 1920s, the master criminal was a gamester, criming for self expression, during the 1930s he performed in other ways for other purposes.

• delictual
• felony
• offence
• sin
• administrative infraction (less serious violation of the law)

• REMIC, merci

crime m (plural crímenes)

1. murder
2. crime

Unadapted borrowing from French crime

• IPA^(key): /krim/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -im
• Hyphenation: cri‧me

crime m (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. hassle, struggle, pain in the neck (something extremely annoying or unpleasant)

Inherited from Old French crimne, borrowed from Latin crīmen, from Proto-Italic *kreimen, from Proto-Indo-European *kréymn̥, from *krey- (“sieve”) + *-mn̥.

• IPA^(key): /kʁim/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

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• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Rhymes: -im

crime m (plural crimes)

1. a category of severe offences within French law, comparable to a felony under United States laws. Crime are tied to the strongest of penalties, 10 years and more according to law.

   Le meurtre, la trahison, ces sont les crimes punissable par la loi d'une peine lourde.

   Murder, treason; these are the crimes punishable by a heavy penalty by law.

• délit

• “crime”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• cimer
• merci

Borrowed from Latin crīmen.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkri.me/
• Rhymes: -ime
• Hyphenation: crì‧me

crime m (plural crimi)

1. (literary, rare) crime

   Synonyms: crimine, delitto

• crimine

• crime in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• cremi, merci

crime

1. alternative form of cryme

Borrowed from French crime, from Latin crīmen.^[1][2]

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cri‧me

crime m (plural crimes)

1. crime

   Synonym: delito

   O ladrão cometeu um crime horrível.

   The thief committed a terrible crime.

   • 1890, Aluizio Azevedo, O Cortiço, Rio de Janeiro: B. L. Garnier:

     Além disso, como?... Sim, como poderia despachá-la, sem deixar sinais comprometedores do crime?... Envenenando-a?... Dariam logo pela coisa! Matá-la a tiro?... Pior!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “crime”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026

• IPA^(key): [ˈkrime]

crime f

1. inflection of crimă:
   1. indefinite plural
   2. indefinite genitive/dative singular