Crime (krm), n.
Etymology: [F. crime, fr. L. crimen judicial decision, that which is subjected to such a decision, charge, fault, crime, fr. the root of cernere to decide judicially. See Certain.]
1. Any violation of law, either divine or human; an omission of a duty commanded, or the commission of an act forbidden by law.
2. Gross violation of human law, in distinction from a misdemeanor or trespass, or other slight offense. Hence, also, any aggravated offense against morality or the public welfare; any outrage or great wrong. "To part error from crime." Tennyson.
Note: Crimes, in the English common law, are grave offenses which were originally capitally punished (murder, rape, robbery, arson, burglary, and larceny), as distinguished from misdemeanors, which are offenses of a lighter grade. See Misdemeanors.
3. Any great wickedness or sin; iniguity. Nocrime was thine, if 'tis no crime to love. Pope.
2 more senses
4. That which occasion crime. [Obs.] The tree of life, the crime of our first father's fall. Spenser. Capital crime, a crime punishable with death.
Syn. -- Sin; vice; iniquity; wrong. -- Crime, Sin,Vice. Sin is the generic term, embracing wickedness of every kind, but specifically denoting an offense as committed against God. Crime is strictly a violation of law either human or divine; but in present usage the term is commonly applied to actions contrary to the laws of the State. Vice is more distinctively that which springs from the inordinate indulgence of the natural appetites, which are in themselves innocent. Thus intemperance, unchastity, duplicity, etc., are vices; while murder, forgery, etc., which spring from the indulgence of selfish passions, are crimes.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for crime; he lists it under abomination, sin.
Where he writes about it:
Crime is often used for a flagrant violation of right, but in the technical sense denotes specific violation of human law. — from sin
Sin in the generic sense, as denoting a state of heart, is synonymous with depravity; in the specific sense, as in the expression a sin, the term may be synonymous with transgression, crime, offense, misdeed, etc., or may denote some moral activity that could not be characterized by terms so positive. — from sin
Sin is thus the broadest word, and immorality next in scope; all crimes, properly so called, and all immoralities, are sins; but there may be sin, as ingratitude, which is neither crime, transgression, nor immorality; and there may be immorality which is not crime, as falsehood. — from sin