lawlessness

American  

[law-lis-nis] / ˈlɔ lɪs nɪs /

noun

1. the quality or condition of being without regard for the law; behavior that is contrary to or shows indifference to the law.

   Unfortunately, a lot of confusion, lawlessness, stupidity, and even death surrounds alcohol use in college settings.

2. the state or condition of being without law or law enforcement to provide control or restraint.

   For several months, the emerging nation looked as if it would slip into lawlessness and civil war.

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Etymology

Origin of lawlessness

First recorded in 1585–95; lawless ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )

Example Sentences

The judges cite the government for its tendency to swear at reality in its defenses and the fundamental lawlessness of the behavior they are trying to block.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 5, 2026

And yet, in a version of Britain the rest of Europe has abandoned to death and lawlessness, Kelson survives because of his dedication to artistic and scientific curiosity.

From Salon • Jan. 23, 2026

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants have fled to Chile from Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship, contributing to a sense of lawlessness.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 15, 2025

While meant to be a warning that brutality, cruelty, and lawlessness extended toward some would not end with those first targeted, there have always been a few problems with the Niemöller poem.

From Slate • Sep. 26, 2025

Doppler’s example returned to Mendel: there was music behind noise, laws behind seeming lawlessness, and only a profoundly artificial experiment—creating hybrids out of purebred strains carrying simple traits—could reveal these underlying patterns.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Related Words

• chaos
• confusion
• disorder
• terrorism