criminalization
noun
Simple meaning
Making a previously legal activity illegal, making something a criminal offence.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
krihmuhnuhluhzayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kɹɪmənələˈzeɪʃən
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
The act of making a previously legal activity illegal, the act of making something a criminal offence.
Legislation that makes something illegal
The act of turning someone into a criminal by making their activities illegal.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The act of making a previously legal activity illegal, the act of making something a criminal offence.
Used this way, criminalization is a specialist word with a clearly unfavourable pull. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- 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.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use criminalization
- “The criminalization of marijuana.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
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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.