lawgiver
Americannoun
noun
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the giver of a code of laws
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Also called: lawmaker. a maker of laws
Other Word Forms
- lawgiving noun
Etymology
Origin of lawgiver
1350–1400; Middle English lawe givere. See law 1, giver ( def. )
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.
“The lawgivers of antiquity...legislated for single cities,” Adams observed, but “who can legislate for 20 or 30 states, each of which is greater than Greece or Rome at those times?”
From Literature
The God he describes in his work is neither a stern lawgiver nor a merciful redeemer but a close presence to whom we can always turn for intimacy.
From The New Yorker
Here is another problem: One of the roles of a president or other leader is to function as a lawgiver figure, a type of parental figure for a society.
From Salon
The great lawgiver Donald Trump arose before the sun Tuesday pondering one of the finer points of jurisprudence and, at the tender hour of 5:24 a.m., composed his own mini law-review article on Twitter.
From Washington Post
Even his name, which most interpret as a riff on Drake or the Draco AK-47 semiautomatic pistol, actually takes lineage from Draco, the famously harsh lawgiver of ancient Greece who inspired the adjective, "Draconian."
From Los Angeles Times
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.
