crime-fighting
Meaning
(of a person, organization, or activity) involved in or intended to stop crime and catch criminals
Structure
Usage
The new district attorney promised a tough, crime-fighting agenda.
He plays a crime-fighting superhero in the popular film series.
Community policing is seen as an effective crime-fighting strategy.
Etymology
The compound "crime-fighting" is a modern English formation that transparently combines two native concepts. The first element, "crime," has a long journey from Latin crīmen, which originally meant a judicial decision or charge, before specializing to mean the offense itself. The second element, "fighting," derives from the robust Old English verb feohtan, meaning to combat or struggle. When combined in the 20th century, the term creates a vivid, literal image of engaging in combat against criminal activity. This compounds the abstract notion of illegal acts with the active, physical metaphor of battle, reflecting a societal view of law enforcement as a proactive struggle.
Analysis
crime: From Latin crīmen (verdict, accusation, offense), via Old French crimne. Functions as a noun root denoting the concept of illegal activity. fighting: From Old English feohtan (to fight). The suffix -ing forms the present participle/gerund, here used adjectivally to mean "engaged in the act of".