legislation

American  

[lej-is-ley-shuhn] / ˌlɛdʒ ɪsˈleɪ ʃən /

noun

• legislations
  plural

1. the act of making or enacting laws.

2. a law or a body of laws enacted.

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legislation British  

/ ˌlɛdʒɪsˈleɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of making laws; enactment

2. the laws so made

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• sublegislation
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• legislations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of legislation

1645–55; < Late Latin lēgislātiōn- (stem of lēgislātiō ), equivalent to Latin phrase lēgis lātiō the bringing (i.e., proposing) of a law, equivalent to lēgis (genitive of lēx law) + lātiō a bringing; see relation

Explanation

Legislation is the act or process of making or enacting laws. Some people think there should be more legislation in the area of education and some people think there should be less — governments debate the matter periodically. The noun legislation refers to the actual law enacted by a legislative body at the national, state, or local level. There has been some very odd legislation over the years. In one state it was illegal to kiss on a train; in another, it was illegal to take a bath on Sunday. The sweeping legislation made radical changes to tax law, health care, and immigration law.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

legislation legislations

"We are now seeing people coming from the rest of the UK and Northern Ireland to Glasgow because the legislation is more sympathetic to people here and it treats them better," he said.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

“The federal courts must resolve the legality of the novel legal theory behind this legislation before we proceed,” Newsom said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

The government’s legislation earned kudos from Canada’s largest business group, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

Those efforts will press ahead now that the Clarity Act has stalled, and together could achieve much of what the legislation sought to, analysts said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Until attitudes changed, suffragists were going to have to work for the passage of suffrage legislation one state at a time.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

“I made up my mind because I must not interfere with parliamentary discussion of key legislations because of my problems,” Terada said.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 20, 2022

Kishida returned to Tokyo on Saturday after a nine-day trip and apparently faced pressure from his governing party executives to make a quick decision on Terada before discussions on key legislations resume Monday.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 20, 2022

“So, it’s a fight to control the data, and they’ve been very active in fighting those legislations everywhere they can.”

From Reuters ● Apr. 13, 2022

Mr Edwards said: "Orr began to quote that the Health Regulations 2020 were only legislations and not law and that he only listened to common law."

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2021

As to ancient legislations, there is not one that is not said to have come from heaven.

From Outlines of a Philosophy of Religion based on Psychology and History by Auguste Sabatier

Related Words

• act
• bill
• charter
• constitution
• measure
• regulation
• ruling
• statute