unconstitutional
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unconstitutional
First recorded in 1735–45; un- 1 + constitutional
Explanation
When someone protests an action on the part of the government by saying, "That's vile! That's wrong! That's downright unconstitutional!," they're saying that the action violates the tenets of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is our nation's founding document, laying out a structure for the executive, judicial, and legislative powers, and assigning to people specific rights, such privacy, free speech, and voting. Violations of the Constitution are the highest forms of illegality in our nation, though famously hard to nail down.
Vocabulary lists containing unconstitutional
Twelve Days in May
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Lincoln Inaugural Address (March 1861)
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Words with 15 or More Letters, List 1
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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.
After their reporters had their passes confiscated and were denied access to the building, the three outlets jointly launched legal action, calling the move unconstitutional.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Wiles revealed that she doesn’t have “these seminal moments where you have to go in and tell the president what he wants to do is unconstitutional or will cost lives. I don’t have that.”
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
In a 2025 review of the legislation, the state attorney general found this subsection likely unconstitutional.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
District Court Judge Indira Talwani, who issued the injunctions, said it’s “a likely unconstitutional regulation for which compliance is practically impossible as to the 2026 midterm elections, now little more than two months away.”
From Slate ● Sep. 3, 2026
His core argument was that the Sedition Act was unconstitutional because it violated the natural rights of the citizens of each state to control their own domestic affairs.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
