lawless

[law-lis]

adjective

1. contrary to or without regard for the law.

   lawless violence.

2. being without law; uncontrolled by a law; unbridled; unruly; unrestrained.

   lawless passion.

3. illegal.

   bootleggers' lawless activity.

lawless

/ ˈlɔːlɪs /

adjective

1. without law

2. disobedient to the law

3. contrary to or heedless of the law

4. uncontrolled; unbridled

   lawless rage

Other Word Forms

• lawlessly adverb
• lawlessness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lawless¹

First recorded in 1150–1200; from Middle English laweles; law ¹, -less

Example Sentences

Khrushchev angrily rejected Kennedy’s right to impose a quarantine, comparing Americans to lawless pirates.

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A Reform UK spokesman said the report was proof "that Britain is lawless".

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No state suffered more from the Biden team’s lawless war on fossil fuels than Alaska.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Scam compounds have flourished in Myanmar's lawless borderlands, staffed by foreigners -- many of them Chinese -- who often say they were trafficked and forced to swindle people online, part of a multibillion-dollar illicit industry.

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Experts say most of the centres, notorious for their romance scams and "pig butchering" investment cons, are run by Chinese-led crime syndicates working with Myanmar militias in the lawless badlands of the Golden Triangle.

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Related Words

• anarchic 
• barbarous 
• chaotic 
• turbulent 
• unruly 
• violent