Collocations
Find typical usage patterns (collocations) for English words.
Enter a verb, a noun or an adjective.
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Here we’re going to look at 10 collocations with crime. What English expressions can we use when people commit a crime?
You will learn the meanings of English collocations:
cut down on crime, white-collar crime, violent, juvenile crime, to commit a crime, to combat crime, to turn to crime, alleged crime, and petty crime, and I’ll give you some examples.
To complete your vocabulary on crime and punishment, you also need to learn crime and punishment vocabulary.
Speak Better English with Harry — Episode 113
list of collocations with Crime
Harry
Harry is a native English teacher with over 10 years of experience both online and in face-to-face lessons. With his extensive experience in business, he specialises in Business English lessons but happily teaches ESL students with any English learning needs.
English Collocations with Crime
to cut down on crime
Meaning: When we cut down on crime, we want to reduce the rate of crime.
Example:
The police are putting effort into a plan to cut down on crime.
Meaning to reduce the rate of crime.
That might be to reduce the rate of crime or to cut down on crime in particular arrears, locations – in the city centre, or in the suburbs – or it might cut down on particular types of crimes serious crime, or other smaller crimes like house burglaries or car thefts or – as we have a lot of problems in London at the moment – knife crime.
So the police are putting in plans or actions plans where they will try to cut down on different types of crimes.
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white-collar crime
Meaning: White-collar C-O-L-L-A-R is the colour of the shirt, or white-collar shirt, which usually indicates management. White-collar crime is a collocation to describe the financial crime, typically committed by a business person or public official. When somebody might take money from a company, or somebody might embezzle money and take it without people’s knowledge.
Example:
It is also clear that white-collar crime is on the rise and, for various reasons, is far more difficult to detect.
They might, as they do now, take money from people’s accounts through some type of phishing or trying to get people’s account details and fraudulently take the money and transfer it to their own accounts. So this is referred to as white-collar crime.
Nobody gets physically hurt with white-collar crime but people can lose a lot of money – bad advice, bogus investments, and other issues related to that topic of white-collar crime.
violent crime
Meaning: this is a type of crime with violence; a crime when somebody is physically hurt. For example, if you’re attacked in the street, pushed to the ground, or you’ve beaten up.
Example:
Reasons for violent crime in these areas are mainly alcohol and firearms misuse combined with youth unemployment.
There are also other violent crimes, of course, which could be somebody attacking their partner or their children, and these could also be regarded as violent crimes. Violent crimes can take place after a football match where groups of fans from one team attack the individuals, or an individual, from the other team, and these attacks could be with violence or regarded as violent crime.
juvenile crime
Meaning: the juvenile crime is the crime committed by young people; these are young people committing certain types of crime. These types of crime may not be so serious. For example, they could be spraying graffiti on bus stops, or people’s doors, or things like that.
Example:
Juvenile crime rates have seen a promising drop in recent years, compared to the spike in the 1990s.
There could be a juvenile crime of shoplifting. When they go to a store, and they take some products without paying for it, obviously, but also without knowing what they’re doing. It might be a game to them, but it’s quite a serious situation, so it’s regarded as an act of juvenile crime. And for juvenile crimes usually, the courts have lesser sentences. It might be a warning or some type of misconduct warning, but they usually don’t go to prison, unless somebody is a repeat offender, meaning they do it time and time again.
English Collocations with Crime
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to commit crime
Meaning: to commit means to carry out, or simply to do.
Example:
The police are interested in finding a person who committed a crime last night.
Or they’re trying to encourage young people to take up some sports or other activities, they don’t get encouraged by other people to commit crimes.
So to commit is the act of doing, the act of carrying out that particular crime.
to combat crime
to tackle crime
Meaning: again, as we’re talking about crime, obviously, a lot of references to police, and police forces, and government actions and laws, so these come together to try to combat crime. Meaning, to reduce the crime rate.
Examples:
In order to combat crime, the police forces have introduced many initiatives.
The government has announced an increase in police on the streets in an effort to combat/tackle an increase in crime rates.
Everything is done to combat or tackle crime.
English Collocations with Crime
to turn to crime
Meaning: we use this collocation when we’re referring to something that people might be encouraged to do or something they might decide to do out of boredom, out pressure from a peer group. To turn to crime means to start doing some criminal activities. Initially small crimes, they lead to bigger and more serious crimes.
Example:
The boy turned to crime because he had no parental supervision.
Those children without strong parental supervision are more likely to turn to crime than those children who do.
Those children who have a lot of sports or extra-curriculum activities at school are less likely to turn to crime in the future.
alleged crime
Meaning: a crime that is not proven; it is understood that something happened but we have yet to prove it.
Example:
The alleged burglar was seen entering the building.
They someone entering the building, they are not sure if it was the man they’re now looking for, and hence, until they prove it, they refer to him as an alleged burglar, or, in this case, we refer to an alleged crime. Was it a crime in fact? It could have been a mistake, a mistake in identity.
Until it’s proven, it’s not a real crime, but it is an alleged crime. Meaning, they believe it is a crime, or it’s understood to have been a crime.
speak better English with Harry — Episode 114
petty crime
Meaning: small or insignificant or not so serious crime. And petty crime often can be described as things like shoplifting by young kids, spraying graffiti at bus shelters, taking apples from somebody’s apple orchard, or something like that. These would all be petty crimes, usually, they don’t carry huge punishment.
Example:
Two people responsible for numerous petty crimes over the last four days were caught yesterday.
So petty crime – something small, minor, insignificant, something not so important.
There you have the collocations related to crime. Listen to my English learning podcast Speak Better English with Harry on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify.
More Information
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Business English Vocabulary
Useful English Collocations
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Collocations for «crime»Common phrases and expressions where native English speakers use the word «crime» in context. WordReference English Collocations © 2023 crimeⓘMost examples are given in US English. We have labeled exceptions as UK. n
n as adj
‘crime‘ also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations): |
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crime /kraɪm/ ‘British English’ ‘American English’ noun
[Word Family: noun: ↑crime, ↑criminal, ↑criminologist, ↑criminology; verb: ↑incriminate, ↑criminalize ≠ ↑decriminalize; adjective: ↑criminal, ↑incriminating; adverb: ↑criminally]
[Date: 1200-1300; Language: Latin; Origin: crimen ‘judgment, accusation, crime’]
1. [uncountable] illegal activities in general:
We moved here because there was very little crime.
Police officers are being given new powers to help combat crime.
a police crackdown on car crime
a town with a relatively low crime rate
2. [countable] an illegal action, which can be punished by law:
He insisted that he had not committed any crime.
men who have been found guilty of violent crimes
crime against
Crimes against the elderly are becoming more common.
Police are still busy hunting for clues at the scene of the crime (=where the crime happened).
3. a life of crime when someone spends their life stealing and committing crimes, in order to get money to live
4. the perfect crime a crime that no one knows has been committed, so no one can be punished for it
5. crime of passion a crime, especially murder, caused by sexual jealousy
6. crime against humanity a crime of cruelty against large numbers of people, especially in a war
7. crime doesn’t pay used to say that crime does not give you any advantage, because you will be caught and punished – used when warning people not to get involved in crime
8. [singular] something that someone is blamed or criticized for doing – use this when you think someone is treated very unfairly ⇨ sin:
My only crime is that I fell in love with another girl.
Johnson’s biggest crime was that he told the truth.
9. it’s a crime spoken said when you think something is very wrong, and someone should not do it:
It would be a crime to waste all that good food. ⇨ partners in crime at ↑partner1(5), ⇨ ↑white-collar(2)
• • •
COLLOCATIONS (for Meanings 1 & 2)
■ verbs
▪ commit (a) crime Most crime is committed by young men.
▪ carry out a crime The boy admitted that he’d carried out the crime.
▪ fight/combat/tackle crime There are a number of ways in which the public can help the police to fight crime.
▪ beat crime new measures to beat car crime
▪ turn to crime (=start committing crimes) Youngsters who are bored sometimes turn to crime.
▪ solve a crime It took ten years for the police to solve the crime.
▪ report a crime I immediately telephoned the police to report the crime.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + crime
▪ (a) serious crime Kidnapping is a very serious crime.
▪ (a) violent crime Figures show a 19% rise in violent crime.
▪ a terrible/horrific crime (also a dreadful crime British English) What made him commit such a terrible crime?
▪ petty crime (=crime that is not very serious) Immigrants were blamed for the increase in petty crime.
▪ juvenile/youth crime (=committed by children and teenagers) Police blame gangs for a third of all juvenile crime in the city.
▪ an alleged crime (=not proved to have happened) No evidence of the alleged crime was presented.
▪ organized crime (=committed by large organizations of criminals) the growing threats of terrorism and organized crime
▪ car crime British English (=stealing cars) the battle against car crime
▪ street crime (=crimes such as robbery committed on the streets) There will be new measures to tackle street crime.
▪ corporate crime (=involving businesses) Those responsible for corporate crime often escape punishment.
▪ property crime (=stealing from or damaging property) theft and other property crime
▪ computer crime (=committed using computers) It is usually companies that are the victims of computer crime.
▪ war crimes (=serious crimes committed during a war)
▪ a sex crime (=in which someone is sexually attacked)
▪ a hate crime (=committed against someone because of their race, religion etc)
▪ a capital crime American English (=a crime such as murder, for which the criminal can be killed)
■ phrases
▪ a victim of crime Victims of crime do not always report the offence.
▪ a crackdown on crime (=strong action to fight crime) The government has promised a crackdown on crime.
▪ the scene of the crime (also the crime scene) (=the place where a crime has happened) Detectives were already at the scene of the crime.
▪ be tough on crime (=punish crime severely ) Politicians want to appear tough on crime.
▪ be soft on crime (=not punish crime severely enough) He accused the government of being soft on crime.
■ crime + NOUN
▪ a crime wave (=a sudden increase in crime in an area) Larger cities have been the worst hit by the crime wave.
▪ a crime spree (=when one person commits a lot of crimes in a short time) He was arrested after a two-day crime spree.
▪ crime prevention The police can give you advice on crime prevention.
▪ the crime rate The crime rate has gone up.
▪ crime figures/statistics The new crime figures are not good.
▪ a crime syndicate American English (=an organization of criminals) Women found themselves trapped by crime syndicates into prostitution.
▪ a crime writer (=someone who writes stories about crimes, especially murder)
■ COMMON ERRORS
► Do not say ‘do a crime‘. Say commit a crime or carry out a crime.
• • •
THESAURUS
■ illegal actions
▪ crime noun [uncountable and countable] an illegal action or activity, or these actions in general: The police need the public’s help to solve crimes. | Crime is on the increase. | It was a horrific crime.
▪ offence British English, offense American English noun [countable] a crime, especially one that has a particular description and name in law: It is an offence to drive while using a mobile phone. | a minor offence (=one that is not serious) | a serious offence | a parking offence
▪ misdemeanor noun [countable] American English law a crime that is not very serious: They pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and were fined.
▪ felony noun [uncountable and countable] especially American English law a serious crime: Fewer than 25 percent of the people arrested on felony charges are convicted. | He committed a series of violent felonies.
■ crimes of stealing
▪ robbery noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of stealing from a bank, shop etc: £100,000 was stolen in the robbery. | The gang carried out a string of daring robberies.
▪ burglary noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of breaking into someone’s home in order to steal things: There have been several burglaries in our area.
▪ theft noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of stealing something: Car theft is a big problem. | thefts of credit cards
▪ shoplifting noun [uncountable] the crime of taking things from shops without paying for them: They get money for drugs from shoplifting.
▪ fraud noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of getting money from people by tricking them: He’s been charged with tax fraud. | credit card fraud
▪ larceny noun [uncountable] especially American English law the crime of stealing something: He was found guilty of larceny.
▪ phishing noun [uncountable] the activity of tricking people into giving their personal details, bank numbers etc on the Internet, in order to steal money from them: One in four computer users reports that they have been hit by phishing attempts.
■ violent crimes
▪ assault noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of physically attacking someone: He was arrested for an assault on a policeman.
▪ mugging noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of attacking and robbing someone in a public place: Muggings usually happen at night.
▪ murder noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of deliberately killing someone: He is accused of the murder of five women.
▪ homicide noun [uncountable and countable] especially American English law murder: Homicide rates are rising fastest amongst 15 to19-year-olds.
▪ rape noun [uncountable and countable] the crime of forcing someone to have sex: In most cases of rape, the victim knows her attacker.
■ crimes against property
▪ arson noun [uncountable] the crime of deliberately setting fire to a building: The school was completely destroyed in an arson attack.
▪ vandalism noun [uncountable] the crime of deliberately damaging things, especially public property: He often got into fights and committed acts of vandalism.