ILLEGAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does illegal mean? 

• ILLEGAL (adjective)
  The adjective ILLEGAL has 1 sense:

1. prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules

  Familiarity information: ILLEGAL used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ILLEGAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules

Context example:

an illegal chess move

Similar:

extrajudicial (beyond the usual course of legal proceedings; legally unwarranted)

unratified (lacking legal authority)

under-the-counter (done or sold illicitly and secretly)

penal; punishable ((of an act or offense) subject to punishment by law)

misbranded; mislabeled (branded or labeled falsely and in violation of statutory requirements)

ineligible (prohibited by official rules)

illegitimate; illicit; outlaw; outlawed; unlawful (contrary to or forbidden by law)

hot (recently stolen or smuggled)

extralegal; nonlegal (not regulated or sanctioned by law)

embezzled; misappropriated (taken for your own use in violation of a trust)

dirty; ill-gotten (obtained illegally or by improper means)

criminal; felonious (involving or being or having the nature of a crime)

black; black-market; bootleg; contraband; smuggled (distributed or sold illicitly)

banned; prohibited (forbidden by law)

amerciable (of a crime or misdemeanor; punishable by a fine set by a judge)

Also:

irregular (contrary to rule or accepted order or general practice)

illegitimate (of marriages and offspring; not recognized as lawful)

unlawful (contrary to or prohibited by or defiant of law)

Attribute:

legality (lawfulness by virtue of conformity to a legal statute)

Antonym:

legal (established by or founded upon law or official or accepted rules)

Derivation:

illegality (unlawfulness by virtue of violating some legal statute)

 Context examples 

An act that is punishable by law; illegal activities in general.

(Crime, NCI Thesaurus)

The use of illegal drugs or the use of prescription or over-the-counter drugs for purposes other than those for which they are meant to be used, or in large amounts.

(Drug Abuse, NCI Dictionary)

Certain medicines, illegal drugs, and alcohol can also pass through the breast milk and cause harm to your baby.

(Breastfeeding, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

Other factors may increase your risk, such as use of illegal drugs or having a serious medical condition like cancer.

(Mental Disorders, NIH)

The result of execution of a Grid Service Operation when an unexpected or illegal event occurs during processing, generally indicating through a message and/or additional details, the cause of abnormal execution.

(Grid Service Fault, NCI Thesaurus)

“Yes,” I said, “it is morally justifiable so long as our object is to take no articles save those which are used for an illegal purpose.”

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

‘This is very extraordinary conduct, Mr. Latimer,’ I stammered. ‘You must be aware that what you are doing is quite illegal.’

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You are a private individual. You have no warrant for my arrest. The whole proceeding is absolutely illegal and outrageous.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Heroin is very addictive and it is illegal to use or sell it in the United States.

(Diacetylmorphine, NCI Dictionary)

I have done nothing actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal constraint.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)