precrime

P3R1E1C3R1I1M3E1

adjective

Before a crime.

Scrabble 14
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Meanings

adjectiveprecrime (not comparable)

alternative pre-crime

  1. not comparableBefore a crime.

    The precrime actions of the murderers in the days and hours before they killed provide clues to their mental states at the time of the murders.

    1995, Robert K. Ressler, Ann Wolbert Burgess, John E. Douglas, Sexual homicide: patterns and motives, page 65
nounprecrime (countable and uncountable, plural precrimes)

plural precrimes · alternative pre-crime

  1. countableThe act that is close to, or is a precursor of a crime.

    Held captive by society against their own free wills, the precogs are destined to foretell disturbing precrimes. Yet these precrimes will be committed by persons who are exercising their own free wills.

    2002, Ethix: The Bulletin of the Institute for Business, Technology & Ethics, Issues 22-38
  2. uncountableThe tendency in criminal justice systems to focus on crimes not yet committed.

Origin

From pre- + crime.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

precrime. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/precrime

MLA

“precrime.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/precrime. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “precrime,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/precrime.

Source: precrime on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.