lawful
Americanadjective
-
allowed or permitted by law; not contrary to law.
a lawful enterprise.
- Synonyms:
- legal
-
recognized or sanctioned by law; legitimate.
a lawful marriage; a lawful heir.
- Synonyms:
- licit
-
appointed or recognized by law; legally qualified.
a lawful king.
-
acting or living according to the law; law-abiding.
a lawful man; a lawful community.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- lawfully adverb
- lawfulness noun
- prelawful adjective
- prelawfully adverb
- prelawfulness noun
- quasi-lawful adjective
- quasi-lawfully adverb
Etymology
Origin of lawful
First recorded in 1250–1300, lawful is from the Middle English word laghful. See law 1, -ful
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Gloucestershire Constabulary attended the protest to "enable lawful peaceful protest".
From BBC
The Pentagon has said the military must be able to use technology "for all lawful purposes" and argued those feared uses would violate the law and were not planned.
From BBC
A Pentagon official said Thursday: "From the very beginning, this has been about one fundamental principle: the military being able to use technology for all lawful purposes."
From BBC
The official said the military wouldn’t allow a vendor to insert itself into the chain of command and put members of the armed services at risk by restricting the lawful use of a critical capability.
But the PM said he was not prepared for the UK to join a war without "a lawful basis and a viable, thought-through plan".
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
