outlaw

[ out-law ]
See synonyms for: outlawoutlawedoutlaweroutlawest on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a lawless person or habitual criminal, especially one who is a fugitive from the law.

  2. a person, group, or thing excluded from the benefits and protection of the law.

  1. a person under sentence of outlawry.

  2. a person who refuses to be governed by the established rules or practices of any group; rebel; nonconformist: one of the outlaws of country music.

  3. Chiefly Western U.S.

    • a horse that cannot be broken; a mean, intractable horse.

    • any rogue animal.

verb (used with object)
  1. to make unlawful or illegal: The Eighteenth Amendment outlawed the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating beverages in the U.S.

  2. to deprive of the benefits and protection of the law: Members of guerrilla bands who refused to surrender were outlawed.

  1. to prohibit: to outlaw smoking in a theater.

  2. to remove from legal jurisdiction; deprive of legal force.

adjective
  1. of, relating to, or characteristic of an outlaw.

Origin of outlaw

1
before 1150; Middle English outlawe,Old English ūtlaga<Old Norse ūtlagi one outside the protection of the law; see out, law1

Other words for outlaw

Other words from outlaw

  • self-outlaw, noun
  • self-outlawed, adjective
  • un·out·lawed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use outlaw in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for outlaw

outlaw

/ (ˈaʊtˌlɔː) /


noun
  1. (formerly) a person excluded from the law and deprived of its protection

  2. any fugitive from the law, esp a habitual transgressor

  1. a wild or untamed beast

verb(tr)
  1. to put (a person) outside the law and deprive of its protection

  2. (in the US) to deprive (a contract) of legal force

  1. to ban

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012