hate crime

noun

: any of various crimes (such as assault or defacement of property) when motivated by hostility to the victim as a member of a group (such as one based on color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation)

Examples of hate crime in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The students, identified by police as Kyle Anderson and Samuel Patten, both 18, were each charged with burglary in the second degree as a hate crime and criminal nuisance in the second degree, police said. —Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 26 Sep. 2025

Two Syracuse University students have been charged with a hate crime after allegedly throwing a bag of pork into a Jewish fraternity house as people gathered to observe Rosh Hashanah. —Christian Orozco, NBC news, 25 Sep. 2025

Last month, Terrogram’s co-leader from California pled guilty to federal charges of soliciting hate crimes and calling for the murder of government officials via a hit list of high-value targets. —Mia Cathell, The Washington Examiner, 25 Sep. 2025

Police and fire officials immediately began investigating the fire, which happened just days ahead of the start of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah, as an arson and hate crime. —Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 23 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1960, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for hate crime

• aforetime
• allozyme
• anytime
• christmastime
• cybercrime
• dinnertime
• guggenheim
• isozyme
• lysozyme
• maritime
• mesenchyme
• overtime

Kids Definition

hate crime

noun

plural hate crimes

: any of various crimes (as assault) when motivated by hostility to the victim based on social characteristics (as color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin)

Legal Definition

hate crime

noun

: a crime that violates the victim's civil rights and that is motivated by hostility to the victim's race, religion, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender