scofflaw
Americannoun
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a person who flouts the law, especially one who fails to pay fines owed.
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a person who flouts rules, conventions, or accepted practices.
noun
Etymology
Origin of scofflaw
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.
In 2015, an infamously scofflaw fleet of more than 70 bottom trawlers from Thailand fished in the Saya de Malha Bank.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2025
“Under Musk’s control, Twitter has become a scofflaw, stiffing employees, landlords, vendors, and others,” says the lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Northern District of California.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 4, 2024
But they also thrust Britain into a nasty web of legal disputes that risks making the country look like an international scofflaw.
From New York Times • Jun. 15, 2022
Like the majority of people in this law-abiding country, Vize had little sympathy for the superstar scofflaw but also believed Australia’s government had tried to exploit the situation, only to make a mess of it.
From Washington Post • Jan. 17, 2022
In all truth, these talented, hardworking, law-abiding, mature, adult people are far more disturbing to the peace and order of the current status quo than any scofflaw group of romantic teenage punk kids.
From The Hacker Crackdown, law and disorder on the electronic frontier by Sterling, Bruce
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.
