law
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Official rules that people in a community must follow
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lawIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɔ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
usually with "the"
The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
The body of such rules that pertain to a particular topic.
A binding regulation or custom established in a community in this way.
Common law, as contrasted with equity.
Any rule that must or should be obeyed, concerning behaviours and their consequences.
Any statement of the relation of acts and conditions to their consequences.
verb
informal
To enforce the law.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The body of binding rules and regulations, customs, and standards established in a community by its legislative and judicial authorities.
Used this way, law is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a legal use: the wording is institutional and carries a defined meaning in law rather than a loose everyday one.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Law/legal
- Government/politics
- Academic writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use law
- “Civilization presupposes respect for the law.”noun
- “There is a law against kidnapping.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to enforce the law
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.