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incriminating

adjectiveB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,608 of 15,258neutral

Incriminating means suggesting that somebody is guilty. Incriminating evidence, an incriminating photograph, nothing incriminating.

It is the standard word for what a search hopes to find. The related right against self-incrimination is why an accused person cannot be forced to answer, and it is older than any written constitution.

Definitions of incriminating

  1. 1adjectiveincriminatingSuggesting that somebody is guilty.B2+

    “Police found incriminating photos on the suspect's phone.”

incriminating is a quality.

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *krey-

  2. Latin

    incrīminō

  3. Medieval Latin

    incrīminātus

  4. English

    incriminate

  5. English, today

    incriminating

From incriminate + -ing. incriminate Medieval Latin incrīminātus, of Latin incrīminō, see -ate. 1736. by surface analysis, in- + criminate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

incriminating in the wild

  • While incriminating those who are innocent might be done out of sheer malice, framing is primarily used as a distraction.

    Frameup

  • Blackmail is the act of threatening to reveal potentially incriminating information about a person or group unless a specific demand is met.

    Blackmail (disambiguation)

  • An underboss likely has incriminating information about the boss, and so bosses often appoint people close to them to the underboss position for protection.

    Underboss

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the incrīminō family

incriminatingincriminate

incriminating — used about once every 2,709 pages · #7,608 · point at the bar for the others