Criminalize

verb

verb ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make (something) a crime; to make illegal under criminal law; to ban. transitive

    ""Ag-gag laws criminalize undercover investigations by prohibiting one or more of three types of behavior: trespass, recording of videos, and failure to submit a video to law enforcement.""

  2. 2
    declare illegal; outlaw wordnet
  3. 3
    To treat as a criminal. transitive
  4. 4
    treat as a criminal wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
criminalisedelegitimizeillegaliseillegalizeoutlawoutlaw

Example

More examples

"Some lobbies are trying to criminalize the BDS movement."

Etymology

From criminal + -ize.

Related phrases

criminal law

More for "criminalize"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.