unlawful
adjective
Simple meaning
Contrary to or prohibited by or defiant of law.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnlawfuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənˈlɔfəl
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.
adjective
law
Contrary to or prohibited by or defiant of law
law
Prohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law; see illegal)
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Contrary to or prohibited by or defiant of law
Used this way, unlawful 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 unlawful
- “It is unlawful to park your car in front of a fire hydrant.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Not in accordance with the law.
Not governed by any law.
Prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules.
Not approved by law, but not invalid.
Written or sent with the intention that it may made public or referred to at any trial, rather than by way of….
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Forbidden or tabu sexual intercourse between individuals.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- lawfuladjective
- imprisonmentnoun
- prosecutionnoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: contrary to or prohibited by or defiant of 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.