An act or omission constituting an offence (usually a grave one) against an individual or the state and punishable by law.

A breach of the law; a crime. Obsolete.

An evil deed, a crime; the perpetration or commission of such a deed or crime. Now only in before the fact at phrases 1a after the fact at phrases 1b.

A malefaction, offence.

An action liable to punishment; a penal offence. Obsolete. rare.

Evildoing; an instance of evildoing, a criminal act.

= malefaction, n.2 a.

Criminals' slang. A crime, esp. one arranged beforehand; spec. a theft, a robbery.

Law. An illegal act or omission; a punishable crime.

Chiefly in plural. A criminal act or practice.

U.S. A criminal activity or enterprise. Cf. operate, v. 10.