verb phrase · neutral

commit a crime

/kəˈmɪt ə kraɪm/com·MIT a CRIME

Band 4-5speakingtask2

to do something illegal

Examples

Many young people commit a crime because of peer pressure and lack of supervision.

He was caught committing a crime and later admitted it in court.

Programs that offer education and job training help prevent people from committing crimes.

Band 8 sentence

The root causes of why youths commit crimes often lie in poverty and a lack of education.

Collocations

  • commit murder/fraud/arson
  • commit a minor/serious crime

Word family

commit verbcrime nouncriminal noun/adjective

Common mistakes

do a crimecommit a crime

make a crimecommit a crime

commit crimecommit a crime

Say it for a higher band

5do a crime6make a crime7+commit a crime

Synonyms

break the law

Easily confused

do a crime

After being influenced by a gang, he committed a crime.

Related words

Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.

In Crime & Law

Learn it with its set