SINCE 1828
hate crime
nounDefinition of hate crime
: 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
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Paris Cameron was one of three people who were shot and killed in an anti LGBT hate crime in Detroit, Michigan. — Alicia Garza, Marie Claire, "Trans Women Don’t Want Your Sympathy. They Want to Be Treated as Human Beings.," 24 June 2019 Yet the preferences revealed by the hoax are instructive, albeit unsurprising to anyone who remembers other chapters in the long saga of fake hate crimes. — Kyle Smith, National Review, "What We’ve Learned about Jussie Smollett," 12 June 2019 In Louisiana, three black churches were set ablaze in a hate crime. — Jennifer Wright, Harper's BAZAAR, "Notre Dame Is a Cruel Metaphor for Our World Right Now," 25 Apr. 2019 The referendum provoked an ugly spike of 50% or so in racial and religious hate crimes. — The Economist, "How Brexit made Britain a country of Remainers and Leavers," 20 June 2019 Responding officers arrested Mata on suspicion of a hate crime, felony assault with a deadly weapon, brandishing a weapon and violating parole on a previous assault with a deadly weapon incident. — Lauren Hernández, SFChronicle.com, "Man accused of throwing rocks at men in Fremont arrested for hate crime," 20 June 2019 Amid the recent surge in hate crimes and shootings, some of the suspects in racist attacks and their supporters have invoked the societal ills caused by pornography in manifestos or online forums. — Rob Kuznia, New York Times, "Among Some Hate Groups, Porn Is Viewed as a Conspiracy," 7 June 2019 Samir Kalra, managing director of HAF, talked of a spike in hate crimes against Hindus, including hate speech and the desecration of temples. — Anahita Mukherji, Quartz India, "A hate crime against an Indian-American unites Silicon Valley’s Sunnyvale," 31 May 2019 Researchers have linked President Donald Trump's tweets casting Muslims in a negative light to an increase in hate crimes against Muslims. — Nadra Widatalla, Teen Vogue, "Why Ramadan Is Important to Me in an Islamophobic America," 7 May 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hate crime.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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