criminal
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Someone who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
krimuhnuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɹɪmənəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.
adjective
Guilty of breaking the law.
Of or relating to crime or penal law.
figuratively
Abhorrent or very undesirable.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.
Used this way, criminal is a specialist word with a faintly unfavourable edge. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- felon , a specialist term, precise but narrower
- guilty , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use criminal
- “The police caught the criminal after a long chase through the city.”noun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.