Criminal example sentences
Related (14): crime, offender, convict, felon, perpetrator, lawbreaker, guilty, illegal, unlawful, felonious, delinquent, suspect, accused, prosecution
"Criminal" Example Sentences
Common Phrases
- criminal record
- criminal justice
- criminal law
- criminal charges
- criminal investigation
- criminal defendant
- criminal activity
- criminal offense
- criminal code
- criminal trial
- absolutely criminal
- career criminal
- petty criminal
- common criminal
- criminal behavior
Examples by Level
A1
- He is a criminal.
- The criminal ran away.
- My father said that man is a criminal.
A2
- The criminal was caught by police yesterday.
- She did not want to marry a criminal, so she said no.
- That criminal escaped from prison last week.
B1
- Looking at his record, it's hard to believe he was ever a criminal — he seems so ordinary now.
- The criminal justice system failed him, and now he's angry about it.
- She fell in love with someone who had a criminal past, and her family never forgave her.
B2
- The documentary revealed that the so-called criminal was actually innocent — the real culprit had been protected for decades.
- What struck me most was how the criminal seemed less dangerous than the people who'd put him away.
- He'd spent years trying to escape his criminal record, only to have it resurface the moment he got close to something good.
C1
- The rehabilitation program operates on the premise that no criminal is beyond redemption, though society rarely believes it.
- What fascinates sociologists is how a criminal identity, once assigned, becomes nearly impossible to shed — regardless of actual change.
- The judge's decision to spare the criminal a lengthy sentence sparked outrage, yet the data suggested she was right.
C2
- There's a particular cruelty in how we construct the criminal — not just the person, but the permanent category they can never quite escape.
- He'd made peace with being labeled a criminal long before the courts did, which somehow made his eventual exoneration feel hollow.
- The criminal underworld she'd infiltrated operated on codes more rigid than any law, and that's what made it so compelling to study.
Examples by Scenario
🏠 Everyday Life
- My neighbor got arrested last month — turns out he was a criminal the whole time and nobody knew.
- The criminal on the news looked like my old math teacher, which was deeply unsettling.
- I locked my door three times after hearing about the criminal who'd been breaking into houses on our street.
💼 Workplace
- One of our interns turned out to have a criminal record, and HR had to figure out what to do about it.
- My boss joked that dealing with corporate politics made him feel like a criminal, which got an awkward laugh.
- The company ran background checks and discovered a criminal conviction from twenty years ago — they fired him anyway.
📊 Business
- The criminal enterprise was worth millions before law enforcement shut it down, which taught us something about market demand.
- Our competitor's CEO was indicted for criminal fraud, and their stock tanked within hours.
- The criminal network had been operating undetected for years because they understood supply chain logistics better than most legitimate businesses.
🛒 Buying / Shopping
- The seller's listing seemed too good to be true, and I was worried it was stolen by some criminal.
- I checked the reviews and someone mentioned the vendor had a criminal history — definitely not buying from them.
- That criminal price for a designer bag made me suspicious, so I went to the official store instead.
✈️ Travel
- The hostel warned us about a criminal who'd been targeting tourists in that neighborhood, so we stayed in.
- Traveling through that city felt risky after reading about the criminal gangs operating there.
- The tour guide mentioned that the old fortress had once housed a famous criminal, which made the history feel more real.
📚 Education
- The history teacher showed us documents about a criminal trial from the 1920s to teach us about bias in the justice system.
- My daughter's school invited a reformed criminal to speak about his life, and it changed how some kids thought about second chances.
- The criminal law course was harder than I expected, but it made me understand the system better.
❤️ Relationships
- He told me about his criminal past on our third date, and I didn't know whether to stay or leave.
- Finding out my father had a criminal conviction explained so much about why he was so protective of us.
- We broke up because I couldn't accept that she'd lied about her criminal record — trust was already broken.
📰 News / Politics
- The senator's criminal indictment dominated the news cycle for weeks, overshadowing every other story.
- Activists argued that the criminal justice system disproportionately targets poor communities, and the data backed them up.
- The criminal trial became a referendum on the president's policies, which was never really the point.
💻 Technology
- The app uses AI to identify criminal activity in security footage, though privacy advocates are concerned.
- Someone created a criminal database on the dark web, and law enforcement has been trying to shut it down.
- The criminal underworld has moved entirely online, which makes it harder to track but easier to monitor.
📝 Formal Writing
- The study examined recidivism rates among criminal offenders who participated in vocational training programs versus those who did not.
- Criminal liability in cases of corporate negligence remains a contested area of jurisprudence across jurisdictions.
- The criminal code was amended in 2019 to address emerging forms of cybercrime and digital fraud.