criminalize
verb
Simple meaning
To make a crime.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
krimuhnuhlyzSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɹɪmənəlaɪz
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.
verb
transitive
To make (something) a crime; to make illegal under criminal law; to ban.
transitive
To treat as a criminal.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To make (something) a crime; to make illegal under criminal law; to ban.
Used this way, criminalize is a specialist word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. 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
- Strong
- 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 criminalize
- “Marijuana is criminalized in the U.S.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: to make (something) a crime
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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.