legislate
verb
Simple meaning
To pass laws.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lehjihslaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɛdʒɪsleɪt
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.
verb
Make laws, bills, etc. or bring into effect by legislation
To pass laws (including the amending or repeal of existing laws).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Make laws, bills, etc. or bring into effect by legislation
Used this way, legislate 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
- Technical/specialist 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.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Someone who makes or enacts laws.
Related to persons who make or amend or repeal laws.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- amendverb
- reservedadjective
- referendumnoun
- sovereigntynoun
- legislationnoun
- statutenoun
- constitutionnoun
- enforceverb
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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.