Precrime
adj, noun
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The act that is close to, or is a precursor of a crime. countable
"Held captive by society against their own free wills, the precogs are destined to foretell disturbing precrimes. Yet these precrimes will be committed by persons who are exercising their own free wills."
- 2 The tendency in criminal justice systems to focus on crimes not yet committed. uncountable
Adjective
- 1 Before a crime. not-comparable
"The precrime actions of the murderers in the days and hours before they killed provide clues to their mental states at the time of the murders."
Example
More examples"The precrime actions of the murderers in the days and hours before they killed provide clues to their mental states at the time of the murders."
Etymology
From pre- + crime.
More for "precrime"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.