OUTLAW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does outlaw mean? 

• OUTLAW (noun)
  The noun OUTLAW has 1 sense:

1. someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime

  Familiarity information: OUTLAW used as a noun is very rare.

• OUTLAW (adjective)
  The adjective OUTLAW has 2 senses:

1. contrary to or forbidden by law

2. disobedient to or defiant of law

  Familiarity information: OUTLAW used as an adjective is rare.

• OUTLAW (verb)
  The verb OUTLAW has 1 sense:

1. declare illegal; outlaw

  Familiarity information: OUTLAW used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OUTLAW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

criminal; crook; felon; malefactor; outlaw

Hypernyms ("outlaw" is a kind of...):

principal ((criminal law) any person involved in a criminal offense, regardless of whether the person profits from such involvement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "outlaw"):

arsonist; firebug; incendiary (a criminal who illegally sets fire to property)

law offender; lawbreaker; violator (someone who violates the law)

traitor; treasonist (someone who betrays his country by committing treason)

stealer; thief (a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it)

contrabandist; moon-curser; moon curser; runner; smuggler (someone who imports or exports without paying duties)

scofflaw (one who habitually ignores the law and does not answer court summonses)

habitual criminal; recidivist; repeater (someone who is repeatedly arrested for criminal behavior (especially for the same criminal behavior))

raper; rapist (someone who forces another to have sexual intercourse)

racketeer (someone who commits crimes for profit (especially one who obtains money by fraud or extortion))

drug dealer; drug peddler; drug trafficker; peddler; pusher (an unlicensed dealer in illegal drugs)

parolee; probationer (someone released on probation or on parole)

liquidator; manslayer; murderer (a criminal who commits homicide (who performs the unlawful premeditated killing of another human being))

gangster's moll; gun moll; moll (the girlfriend of a gangster)

mafioso (a member of the Mafia crime syndicate in the United States)

gaolbird; jail bird; jailbird (a criminal who has been jailed repeatedly)

accessary; accessory (someone who helps another person commit a crime)

blackmailer; extortioner; extortionist (a criminal who extorts money from someone by threatening to expose embarrassing information about them)

bootlegger; moonshiner (someone who makes or sells illegal liquor)

briber; suborner (someone who pays (or otherwise incites) you to commit a wrongful act)

coconspirator; conspirator; machinator; plotter (a member of a conspiracy)

desperado; desperate criminal (a bold outlaw (especially on the American frontier))

fugitive; fugitive from justice (someone who is sought by law officers; someone trying to elude justice)

gangster; mobster (a criminal who is a member of gang)

highbinder (a corrupt politician)

highjacker; hijacker (someone who uses force to take over a vehicle (especially an airplane) in order to reach an alternative destination)

goon; hood; hoodlum; punk; strong-armer; thug; tough; toughie (an aggressive and violent young criminal)

abductor; kidnaper; kidnapper; snatcher (someone who unlawfully seizes and detains a victim (usually for ransom))

Instance hyponyms:

Billie the Kid; Bonney; William H. Bonney (United States outlaw who was said to have killed 21 men (1859-1881))

James; Jesse James (United States outlaw who fought as a Confederate soldier and later led a band of outlaws that robbed trains and banks in the West until he was murdered by a member of his own gang (1847-1882))

MacGregor; Rob Roy; Robert MacGregor (Scottish clan leader and outlaw who was the subject of a 1817 novel by Sir Walter Scott (1671-1734))

Derivation:

outlaw (declare illegal; outlaw)

outlaw (disobedient to or defiant of law)

outlaw (contrary to or forbidden by law)

• OUTLAW (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Contrary to or forbidden by law

Synonyms:

illegitimate; illicit; outlaw; outlawed; unlawful

Context example:

unlawful measures

Similar:

illegal (prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules)

Derivation:

outlaw (someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Disobedient to or defiant of law

Synonyms:

lawless; outlaw

Context example:

lawless bands roaming the plains

Similar:

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

Derivation:

outlaw (someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime)

• OUTLAW (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they outlaw    ... he / she / it outlaws   
Past simple: outlawed   
Past participle: outlawed   
-ing form: outlawing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Declare illegal; outlaw

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

criminalise; criminalize; illegalise; illegalize; outlaw

Context example:

Marijuana is criminalized in the U.S.

Hypernyms (to "outlaw" is one way to...):

disallow; forbid; interdict; nix; prohibit; proscribe; veto (command against)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "outlaw"):

ban; censor (forbid the public distribution of ( a movie or a newspaper))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

legalize (make legal)

Derivation:

outlaw (someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime)

outlawry (illegality as a consequence of unlawful acts; defiance of the law)

 Context examples 

But I doubt not that even in England you have had much to suffer from the hands of robbers and outlaws.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If I could have seen my mother alone, I should have gone down on my knees to her and besought her forgiveness; but I saw no one, Miss Murdstone excepted, during the whole time—except at evening prayers in the parlour; to which I was escorted by Miss Murdstone after everybody else was placed; where I was stationed, a young outlaw, all alone by myself near the door; and whence I was solemnly conducted by my jailer, before any one arose from the devotional posture.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But, to be brief over the matter, my father would have none of his wooing, nor in sooth would I. On that he swore a vow against us, and as he is known to be a perilous man, with many outlaws and others at his back, my father forbade that I should hawk or hunt in any part of the wood to the north of the Christchurch road.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The outlaw sank his club.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For when ye had left us, this evil man gathered around him all outlaws, villeins, and masterless men, until they were come to such a force that they slew and scattered the king's men who went against them.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yet, if for an instant he lay the cross aside, or if he fail to journey to Pitt's Deep, where it is ordered that he shall take ship to outland parts, or if he take not the first ship, or if until the ship be ready he walk not every day into the sea as far as his loins, then he becomes outlaw, and I shall forthwith dash out his brains.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His heart was the heavier for the encounter, not only because all bitterness and wrath were abhorrent to his gentle nature, but also because it disturbed him to hear his brother spoken of as though he were a chief of outlaws or the leader of a party against the state.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)