lawbreaker

[law-brey-ker]

noun

1. a person who breaks or violates the law.

   Synonyms: perpetrator, criminal, transgressor

lawbreaker

/ ˈlɔːˌbreɪkə /

noun

1. a person who breaks the law

2. informal,  something that does not conform with legal standards or requirements

Other Word Forms

• lawbreaking noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lawbreaker¹

before 1050; Middle English lawbreker; replacing Old English lahbreca. See law ¹, breaker ¹

Example Sentences

“No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been treated better than illegal aliens in the United States,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

She ran on a return to leniency for lawbreakers.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Suspected lawbreakers shuffled to Shawshank prison may not live to see their day in court.

Read more on Salon

This time, though, we know who the lawbreakers are, but at least initially, not their very human, messy motivations.

Read more on Salon

He promised a violent crackdown on lawbreakers in the city.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• blackmailer www.thesaurus.com
• criminal 
• crook 
• culprit 
• delinquent 
• felon 
• fugitive 
• gangster 
• hoodlum 
• hooligan 
• mobster 
• offender 
• racketeer 
• scofflaw