criminality
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English
Etymology
From French criminalité, from Latin criminalitas, from Latin criminalis. See criminal.
Noun
criminality (countable and uncountable, plural criminalities)
- (uncountable) The state of being criminal.
- (uncountable) Criminal activity.
- rampant criminality
- 2020 December 2, Philip Haigh, “A winter of discontent caused by threat of union action”, in Rail, page 63:
- The memorandum of understanding between the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, the Office of Rail and Road and the police states: "In the absence of a clear indication that serious criminality has caused the accident, RAIB will normally have precedence in respect of the investigation and will assume lead responsibility for the investigation."
- (countable) A criminal act.
- 1910 October, Jack London, chapter VIII, in Burning Daylight, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, part II, pages 181–182:
- The storm-centre of a combined newspaper attack lasting for months, Daylight's character had been torn to shreds. There was no fact in his history that had not been distorted into a criminality or a vice. This public making of him over into an iniquitous monster had pretty well crushed any lingering hope he had of getting acquainted with Dede Mason.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
state of being criminal
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criminal act
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