CRIME • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Crime

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/kraɪm/ Listen

noun

Crime n.

1.

Any violation of law, either divine or human; an omission of a duty commanded, or the commission of an act forbidden by law.

2.

Gross violation of human law, in distinction from a misdemeanor or trespass, or other slight offense. Hence, also, any aggravated offense against morality or the public welfare; any outrage or great wrong. "To part error from crime." Note: Crimes, in the English common law, are grave offenses which were originally capitally punished (murder, rape, robbery, arson, burglary, and larceny), as distinguished from misdemeanors, which are offenses of a lighter grade. See Misdemeanors.

3.

Any great wickedness or sin; iniquity. "No crime was thine, if 'tis no crime to love."

4.

That which occasion crime. (Obs.) "The tree of life, the crime of our first father's fall."

Capital crime, a crime punishable with death.

Synonyms: Sin; vice; iniquity; wrong. Crime, Sin,Vice. Sin is the generic term, embracing wickedness of every kind, but specifically denoting an offense as committed against God. Crime is strictly a violation of law either human or divine; but in present usage the term is commonly applied to actions contrary to the laws of the State. Vice is more distinctively that which springs from the inordinate indulgence of the natural appetites, which are in themselves innocent. Thus intemperance, unchastity, duplicity, etc., are vices; while murder, forgery, etc., which spring from the indulgence of selfish passions, are crimes.

See images of 'Crime'

Etymology of 'Crime'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Crime" Quotes from Famous Books

... sensation. Cautious passengers instinctively put their hands on their pockets, to make sure that they, too, had not been robbed. As for Frank, his face flushed, and he felt very indignant that he should even be suspected of so mean a crime. He had been carefully brought up, and been taught to regard ...

— Ragged Dick - Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot-Blacks • Horatio Alger

... they gave in the colleges of my time," said Mr. Hofmyer, "if I do talk dialect; and I'll agree with you so far as to say that it would have been a crime for me to neglect the chemistry, bacteriology, physics, engineering and other sciences that pertain to farmin'—if there'd been any such sciences when I was gettin' ...

— The Brown Mouse • Herbert Quick

... she was lost; she knew that magic was a crime of the highest degree in Catholic countries, and that she had been detected in the very act. "Well, well," thought Amine: "it is my destiny, and ...

— The Phantom Ship • Frederick Marryat

... at it. The crime of the church followed him once more; even in this little chapel so full of divine compassion, all the statues came from the religious bazaars of ...

— En Route • J.-K. (Joris-Karl) Huysmans

... will ever knowingly burden or pollute my conscience by approving of these parricides. I saw in my own country the punishment of one, born in a most honourable station, and innocent of any serious crime, Patrick [Hamilton]. I saw burned at Cologne two men of pious and orthodox sentiments, and most averse to the fanatical opinions of the Anabaptists. Nor can I express in words how deeply I was grieved by ...

— The Scottish Reformation - Its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders, and Distinctive Characteristics • Alexander F. Mitchell

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