criminal

Etymology

From Middle English cryminal, borrowed from Anglo-Norman criminal, from Late Latin criminalis, from Latin crimen (“crime”).

adj

1. Against the law; forbidden by law.
2. Guilty of breaking the law.
   The neglect of any of the relative duties renders us criminal in the sight of God. a. 1729, John Rogers, The Difficulties of Obtaining Salvation
3. Of or relating to crime or penal law.
   His long criminal record suggests that he is a dangerous man.
4. (figurative) Abhorrent or very undesirable.
   Printing such asinine opinions is criminal!
   … I think it represents exceptional value for money and I think it would be criminal not to go ahead and build it." May 6 2020, Graeme Pickering, “Borders Railway: time for the next step”, in Rail, page 54

noun

1. A person who is guilty of a crime, notably breaking the law.
   ‘[…] There's every Staffordshire crime-piece ever made in this cabinet, and that's unique. The Van Hoyer Museum in New York hasn't that very rare second version of Maria Marten's Red Barn over there, nor the little Frederick George Manning—he was the criminal Dickens saw hanged on the roof of the gaol in Horsemonger Lane, by the way—’ 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess