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PlainSpell

decriminalize

UK /diːˈkɹɪmɪnəlaɪz/verb

decriminalize is a verb meaning “To change the laws so something is no longer a crime” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled D-E-C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L-I-Z-E and has 5 syllables, and it appears about once in every 5 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).

What does decriminalize mean?

verb

  1. 1

    BritishUSTo change the laws so something is no longer a crime.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce decriminalize?

  • UK /diːˈkɹɪmɪnəlaɪz/

Decriminalize has 5 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-decriminalize.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of decriminalize

  • decriminalizes present, singular, he/she/it
  • decriminalizing participle, present
  • decriminalized participle, past
  • decriminalise

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is decriminalize?

Decriminalize appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 66,686th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Decriminalize in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

In the sense to change the laws so something is no longer a crime:

LanguageWords
Frenchdépénaliser, décriminaliser
Germanentkriminalisieren
Portuguesedescriminar, descriminalizar
Spanishdespenalizar, descriminalizar

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does decriminalize come from?

Back-formation from decriminalization, equivalent to de- + criminalize.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).