criminaliser

\kʁi.mi.na.li.ze\

/\kʁi.mi.na.li.ze\/ verb

The verdict

“criminaliser” is uncommon French (frequency #53,237 among 8,609 “C” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#53,237
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Promulguer une loi décrivant une action comme un crime.

Corpus desk

Index FR-criminaliser · criminaliser · French

criminaliser · rank #53,237 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #53,237
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH cric

Nearest frequency peer: cric (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rangs de longue queue près de « criminaliser »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « criminaliser » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for criminaliser
PropertyValue
Headwordcriminaliser
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\kʁi.mi.na.li.ze\
Letters12
Frequency rank#53,237
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « criminaliser » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).criminalisertombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « cric » (#53,236), « crins » (#53,238), « crawl » (#53,235). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « criminaliser » est au #53,237. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

criminaliser is uncommon French at frequency #53,237 among 8,609 “C” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \kʁi.mi.na.li.ze\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for criminaliser in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is criminaliser, spelled C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L-I-S-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Promulguer une loi décrivant une action comme un crime.
  2. 2
    Porter, renvoyer une affaire d’un tribunal civil à un tribunal criminel, faire d’un procès civil un procès criminel.
  3. 3
    Faire croire qu’une action légitime est une affaire criminelle, en manipulant les populations.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how criminaliser appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Par la nature, la forme et l'esprit de la prévention, on remonte à la pensée mère, à l'élément substantiel de ce procès innomé et stupide, où la suprématie gouvernementale, l’interprétation intolérable de l’ordre public, violent et criminalisent le droit privé et le droit commun sous le couvert de la justice.
  2. Dès qu’il y a manifestation, on lâche les milices du pouvoir qui cassent et fracassent. La peur reprend le dessus et le mouvement est brisé, clochardisé, criminalisé.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "criminaliser"?
"criminaliser" is spelled C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L-I-S-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \kʁi.mi.na.li.ze\.
What does "criminaliser" mean?
As a verb, "criminaliser" means: Promulguer une loi décrivant une action comme un crime.
How do you pronounce "criminaliser"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "criminaliser" is \kʁi.mi.na.li.ze\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "criminaliser" come from?
"criminaliser" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "criminaliser", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list