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crime

Pronunciation: /krʌɪm/
Translate crime | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of crime

noun

  • an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law:shoplifting was a serious crime
  • [mass noun] illegal activities:the victims of crime
  • an action or activity considered to be evil, shameful, or wrong:they condemned apartheid as a crime against humanity it’s a crime to keep a creature like Willy in a tank

verb

[with object] British informal
  • (especially in the army) charge with or find guilty of an offence:they found the note and I got crimed for it

Origin:

Middle English (in the sense 'wickedness, sin'): via Old French from Latin crimen 'judgement, offence', based on cernere 'to judge'

crime in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of crime in the US English dictionary

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