STATUTE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does statute mean? 

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

1. an act passed by a legislative body

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

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

1. enacted by a legislative body

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• STATUTE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An act passed by a legislative body

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

legislative act; statute

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

act; enactment (a legal document codifying the result of deliberations of a committee or society or legislative body)

Meronyms (parts of "statute"):

rider (a clause that is appended to a legislative bill)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

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

fair-trade act (formerly a state law that protected manufacturers from price-cutting by allowing them to set minimum retail prices for their merchandise; eliminated by the United States Congress in 1975)

Stamp Act (an act passed by the British Parliament in 1756 that raised revenue from the American Colonies by a duty in the form of a stamp required on all newspapers and legal or commercial documents; opposition by the Colonies resulted in the repeal of the act in 1766)

enabling act; enabling clause (a provision in a law that confers on appropriate officials the power to implement or enforce the law)

FISA; Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (an act passed by Congress in 1978 to establish procedures for requesting judicial authorization for foreign intelligence surveillance and to create the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court; intended to increase United States counterintelligence; separate from ordinary law enforcement surveillance)

ordinance (a statute enacted by a city government)

special act (a legislative act that applies only to a particular person or particular district)

• STATUTE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Enacted by a legislative body

Synonyms:

codified; statute

Context example:

codified written laws

Similar:

written (systematically collected and written down)

 Context examples 

He was wild when he was young; a long while ago to be sure; but in the law of God, there is no statute of limitations.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

They are, Miss Eyre, though they absolutely require a new statute: unheard-of combinations of circumstances demand unheard-of rules.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Sale is forbidden in the United States by Federal statute.

(Diacetylmorphine, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Peggotty then retired to her lodging, and Mr. Spenlow and I went into Court, where we had a divorce-suit coming on, under an ingenious little statute (repealed now, I believe, but in virtue of which I have seen several marriages annulled), of which the merits were these.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Already, however, the legal tongues are wagging, and one young law student is loudly asserting that the rights of the owner are already completely sacrificed, his property being held in contravention of the statutes of mortmain, since the tiller, as emblemship, if not proof, of delegated possession, is held in a dead hand.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Whereas, by a statute made in the reign of his imperial majesty Calin Deffar Plune, it is enacted, that, whoever shall make water within the precincts of the royal palace, shall be liable to the pains and penalties of high-treason; notwithstanding, the said Quinbus Flestrin, in open breach of the said law, under colour of extinguishing the fire kindled in the apartment of his majesty’s most dear imperial consort, did maliciously, traitorously, and devilishly, by discharge of his urine, put out the said fire kindled in the said apartment, lying and being within the precincts of the said royal palace, against the statute in that case provided, etc. against the duty, etc.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Three of the tombs, which date back to the New Kingdom period and are between 3500 and 3000 years old, appear to have been used for feline burial as dozens of mummified moggies were discovered within, as well as wooden cat statutes and representations of the cat goddess Bast.

(Egyptian Archaeologists Uncover One-Of-A-Kind Tomb South of Cairo, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

They cannot be, sir, if they require a new statute to legalise them.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)