Standard Lemma guide

criminality

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • CMU ARPABET: K R IH2 M AH0 N AE1 L IH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The state of being criminal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: criminalness, atrociousness, awfulness, badness, corruption, corruptness, criminality, dacoity, depravity, enormity, evil, evilness, immorality, knavery, nefariousness, rascality, savagery, scoundrelry, scumminess, turpitude, vileness, villainhood, villainousness, villainry, villainy, wickedness

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Criminal activity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • rampant criminality

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: crime, delinquency

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A criminal act.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: crime, criminal offence, criminality, delinquency, malefaction, perpetration, unlaw, unlawfulness

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the state of being a criminal

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: criminalism, criminalness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: guilt, guiltiness

History

Etymology

From French criminalité, from Latin criminalitas, from Latin criminalis. By surface analysis, criminal + -ity.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: հանցավորություն (hancʻavorutʻyun) — state of being criminal
  • Belarusian: злачы́ннасць (zlačýnnascʹ) — state of being criminal
  • Catalan: criminalitat — state of being criminal
  • Danish: kriminalitet — state of being criminal
  • Esperanto: krimeco — state of being criminal
  • Finnish: rikollisuus — state of being criminal
  • French: criminalité — state of being criminal
  • Galician: criminalidade — state of being criminal
  • German: Kriminalität — state of being criminal
  • Hungarian: bűnösség — state of being criminal
  • Italian: criminalità — state of being criminal
  • Kazakh: қылмыстылық (qylmystylyq) — state of being criminal
  • Kyrgyz: кылмыштуулук (kılmıştuuluk) — state of being criminal
  • Polish: przestępczość — state of being criminal
  • Portuguese: criminalidade — state of being criminal
  • Russian: престу́пность (prestúpnostʹ) — state of being criminal
  • Scottish Gaelic: eucoireachd — state of being criminal
  • Spanish: criminalidad — state of being criminal
  • Swedish: kriminalitet — state of being criminal
  • Swedish: brottslighet — state of being criminal
  • Ukrainian: злочи́нність (zločýnnistʹ) — state of being criminal
  • Finnish: rikos — criminal act
  • Finnish: rikollinen teko — criminal act
  • Hungarian: bűnözés — criminal act
  • Russian: преступле́ние (prestuplénije) — criminal act
Real reading context

criminality in complete knowledge articles

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