Criminalising

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The action of rendering specific activities as unlawful conduct
2. The act of declaring certain behaviors to be against the law
3. The process through which actions are formally prohibited by legal authorities

Etymology: "Criminalising" is the present participle of "criminalise", a verb built from the adjective "criminal" plus the suffix "-ise". The adjective traces back through Anglo-Norman "criminal" and Late Latin "criminālis" to Latin "crīmen", meaning "charge" or "accusation", and ultimately to a Proto-Indo-European root for "to separate" or "to decide", which fits the older sense of a crime as a formal accusation rather than a moral wrong. The suffix does the real work here. It descends from Ancient Greek "-ízein", which turned nouns and adjectives into verbs meaning "to make into" or "to treat in the manner of", and it reached English through Late Latin "-izāre" and Middle French "-iser". Since the verb "criminalise" is an English formation on the adjective, it is a straightforward combination rather than an inherited term. The meaning follows from that construction. To criminalise something is to make it a crime, so the participle describes the ongoing process by which a legislature or court turns a previously lawful act into an offence.

Synonyms: penalizing, prosecuting

Antonyms: decriminalizing