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# criminal

«criminal» in Mova's school dictionary: **A person who has broken the law and done a crime** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a criminal, criminals); adjective (criminal)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (noun) A person who has broken the law and done a crime. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/criminal/#m1)

2) (adjective) To do with crime or with the law about crime (a criminal act, criminal law). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/criminal/#m2)

3) (adjective, informal) Very wrong, wasteful or unfair: «It's criminal to waste all that food.» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/criminal/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In civics, stories, history and safety (police catch criminals). In everyday speech, «criminal» also means shockingly bad or wasteful. Phrases: «a criminal record», «criminal offence», «a dangerous criminal», «criminal damage».

### examples

- The police caught the criminal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/criminal/#x1)
- Stealing is a criminal act. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/criminal/#x2)
- He has no criminal record. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/criminal/#x3)
- It's criminal to throw away good food! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/criminal/#x4)
- The detective tracked down the criminals. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/criminal/#x5)
- Spraying graffiti on walls is criminal damage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/criminal/#x6)
- The hardened criminal casts an impatient look at the bright ray. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/criminal/#x7)

### note

Countable noun. Related: «crime», «criminally». In maths, crime figures are often compared (falls of a percentage). Being suspected is not the same as being a criminal — a person is innocent until proven guilty.

### In the corpora

- ["Known to police" means a person has a criminal record (a police list of crimes they were found guilty of).](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/15/)
- ["Justice-involved" is a US official phrase for having a criminal record or past contact with the courts.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/27-crime-prison-and-police/21/)
- ["The ultimate penalty" means the death penalty: the law kills (executes) the criminal.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/28-stealing-and-lying/11/)
- [Throwing stones at windows can injure people inside with flying glass, and it is a crime called criminal damage.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/383-street-gangs-and-loyalty/16/)
- [In England and Wales a jury in a serious criminal trial is twelve ordinary adults; in Scotland it is fifteen.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/191-a-fair-trial-and-the-wonderland-court-that-gets-it-all-wrong/9/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «criminal» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/criminal/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.