noun · neutral

crime

/kraɪm/CRIME

Band 4-5speakingtask2

an illegal act that can be punished by law

Examples

Many young people get involved in crime because of unemployment.

The city has seen a rise in violent crime recently.

Property crime includes theft and burglary.

Band 8 sentence

Tackling the root causes of crime, such as poverty and social exclusion, is more effective than simply increasing police presence.

Collocations

  • commit a crime
  • violent crime
  • crime rate

Word family

crime nouncriminal noun / adjectivecriminalize verbcriminality noun

Common mistakes

make a crimecommit a crime

many crimemany crimes

Say it for a higher band

5wrongdoing6offence7+crime

Synonyms

offence

wrongdoing

Easily confused

offence

He was fined for a minor traffic offence.

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