as in outlaws
to make or declare contrary to the law
wanted to criminalize an activity that the mountaineers had been engaging in for generations
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Recent Examples of criminalizes
The law criminalizes nonconsensual, explicit images created by artificial intelligence, often known as deepfakes.
—
Kinsey Crowley, USA Today, 27 Jan. 2026
Sacramento County was under a Stage 1 burning restriction from the metro air district Thursday, which criminalizes burning wood fires in most cases.
—Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 15 Jan. 2026
The United Kingdom plans to bring into force a law that criminalizes the creation of non-consensual sexualized images, including through Grok, the chatbot within Elon Musk’s X application, following the app’s deepfake scandal of the last few weeks.
—Rebecca Schneid, Time, 13 Jan. 2026
The new law criminalizes lotteries for voter registration or participation.
—Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Oc Register, 13 Jan. 2026
Abigail Luckey, 50, of North Hollywood entered a plea to two counts of interference with commerce by robbery under the Hobbs Act, which criminalizes robbery or extortion affecting interstate commerce.
—City News Service, Daily News, 8 Jan. 2026
California law already criminalizes unsafe gun storage in certain situations, including when a child accesses a firearm and injures or kills someone.
—Grant Stringer, Mercury News, 29 Dec. 2025
The draft also criminalizes the impersonation of federal officials with AI deepfakes, citing AI’s use in attempts to successfully mimic White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this year.
—Jared Perlo, NBC news, 25 Nov. 2025
The terrorist designation criminalizes nearly all forms of material support to the Soles cartel, expands surveillance authorities and allows the Treasury Department to freeze assets and cut off international financing.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 17 Nov. 2025
Kinsey Crowley, USA Today, 27 Jan. 2026
Sacramento County was under a Stage 1 burning restriction from the metro air district Thursday, which criminalizes burning wood fires in most cases.
—Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 15 Jan. 2026
The United Kingdom plans to bring into force a law that criminalizes the creation of non-consensual sexualized images, including through Grok, the chatbot within Elon Musk’s X application, following the app’s deepfake scandal of the last few weeks.
—Rebecca Schneid, Time, 13 Jan. 2026
The new law criminalizes lotteries for voter registration or participation.
—Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Oc Register, 13 Jan. 2026
Abigail Luckey, 50, of North Hollywood entered a plea to two counts of interference with commerce by robbery under the Hobbs Act, which criminalizes robbery or extortion affecting interstate commerce.
—City News Service, Daily News, 8 Jan. 2026
California law already criminalizes unsafe gun storage in certain situations, including when a child accesses a firearm and injures or kills someone.
—Grant Stringer, Mercury News, 29 Dec. 2025
The draft also criminalizes the impersonation of federal officials with AI deepfakes, citing AI’s use in attempts to successfully mimic White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this year.
—Jared Perlo, NBC news, 25 Nov. 2025
The terrorist designation criminalizes nearly all forms of material support to the Soles cartel, expands surveillance authorities and allows the Treasury Department to freeze assets and cut off international financing.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 17 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for criminalizes
Verb
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By banning federal agencies from considering systemic racism or equity in AI development, the order effectively outlaws the very efforts needed to fix these problems.—
Joel Bervell,
Time,
14 Nov. 2025
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North Carolina The North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Commission outlaws the sale of alcoholic beverages through happy hour promotions.—
Andrea Margolis,
FOXNews.com,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The gap between freedom of speech and the press in Hong Kong and mainland China, where the ruling Communist Party bans public dissent, has grown much smaller.—
Kanis Leung,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Feb. 2026
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One, a law that bans disruptions at houses of worship.—
Dana Taylor,
USA Today,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Criminalizes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/criminalizes. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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