Word family noun crime criminal criminologist criminology adjective criminal incriminating verb incriminate criminalize ≠ decriminalize adverb criminally
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcriminalizecrim‧i‧nal‧ize (also criminalise British English) /ˈkrɪmənəl-aɪz/ verb [transitive] SCLto make something illegal, or to say that someone is a criminal because of something they have done OPP decriminalize The government has introduced new legislation to criminalize computer hacking.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
criminalize• Campaign finance reform, then, should not simply criminalize a few activities at the edges.• It's the only way they can go around harassing and criminalizing black kids and think they're doing a good job.• However, opponents charge that the new Internet regulations amount to unconstitutional censorship that would criminalize expression protected by the First Amendment.• Government itself was rarely the active initiator in the move to criminalize immorality.• By criminalizing physician-assisted suicide, the Supreme Court has driven a criminal wedge between the dying and their doctors.• In 1937, the U.S. government criminalized the use of marijuana. 