criminal law An act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act:
— A long record of crimes.

synonyms: criminal offence, criminal offense, law-breaking.

Roget 945: vice; evil-doing, evil courses; wrongdoing; wickedness, viciousness etc. adj.; iniquity, peccability^†, demerit; sin, Adam^†; old Adam^†, offending Adam^†.    immorality, impropriety, indecorum, scandal, laxity, looseness of morals; enphagy^†, dophagy^†, exophagy^†; want of principle, want of ballast; obliquity, backsliding, infamy, demoralization, pravity^†, depravity, pollution; hardness of heart; brutality etc. (malevolence) 907; corruption etc. (debasement) 659; knavery etc. (improbity) 940^†; profligacy; flagrancy, atrocity; cannibalism; lesbianism, Sadism.    infirmity; weakness etc. adj.; weakness of the flesh, frailty, imperfection; error; weak side; foible; failing, failure; crying sin, besetting sin; defect, deficiency; cloven foot.    lowest dregs of vice, sink of iniquity, Alsatian den^†; gusto picaresco [It].    fault, crime; criminality etc. (guilt) 947.    sinner etc. 949.    [Resorts] brothel etc. 961; gambling house etc. 621; joint [Slang], opium den, shooting gallery, crack house.    ... show more

Roget 947: guilt, guiltiness; culpability; criminality, criminousness^†; deviation from rectitude etc. (improbity) 940^†; sinfulness etc. (vice) 945.    misconduct, misbehavior, misdoing, misdeed; malpractice, fault, sin, error, transgression; dereliction, delinquency; indiscretion, lapse, slip, trip, faux pas [Fr.], peccadillo; flaw, blot, omission; failing, failure; break, bad break! [U.S.], capital crime, delictum [Lat.].    offense, trespass; misdemeanor, misfeasance, misprision; malefaction, malfeasance, malversation; crime, felony.    enormity, atrocity, outrage; deadly sin, mortal sin; deed without a name" [Macbeth]. corpus delicti.    ... show more

Dutch: delict, euveldaad, misdaad, misdrijf, vergrijp, wanbedrijf, wetsdelict
Polish: przestępstwo kryminalne

An evil act not necessarily punishable by law.