ETYM French crime, from Latin crimen judicial decision, that which is subjected to such a decision, charge, fault, crime, from the root of cernere to decide judicially. Related to Certain.
1. An act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act; SYN. law-breaking.
2. An evil act not necessarily punishable by law.
Behavior or action that is punishable by criminal law. A crime is a public, as opposed to a moral, wrong; it is an offense committed against (and hence punishable by) the state or the community at large. Many crimes are immoral, but not all actions considered immoral are illegal.
The laws of each country specify which actions or omissions are criminal. These include serious moral wrongs, such as murder; wrongs that endanger state security, such as treason; wrongs that endanger or disrupt an orderly society, such as evading taxes; and wrongs against the community, such as littering. Crime is socially determined and so what constitutes a crime may vary geographically and over time. Thus, an action may be considered a crime in one society but not in another; for example, drinking alcohol is not generally prohibited in the West but is a criminal offense in many Islamic countries. Certain categories of crime, though, such as violent crime and theft, are recognized almost universally.
Crime is dealt with in most societies by the judicial system, comprising the police, the courts, and so on. These may impose penalties ranging from a fine to imprisonment to, in some instances, death, depending upon the severity of the offense and the penalty laid down by the country where the offense was committed.
The Italian physician Cesare Lombroso is generally accredited with being the founder of criminology, the scientific study of criminal behavior. He associated criminality with physical characteristics. Later criminologists have tended to draw more upon sociology and psychology than biology to formulate theories of crime. + prikaži više

ETYM Old Eng. felonie cruelty, Old Fren. felonie, French félonie treachery, malice. Related to Felon.
A serious crime.
In criminal law, former term for an offense that is more serious than a misdemeanor; in the US, a felony is a crime generally punishable by imprisonment for a year or more.

Activity that transgresses moral or civil law; SYN. misconduct.