adjective
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illegal
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illicit; immoral
unlawful love
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an archaic word for illegitimate
Related Words
See illegal.
Other Word Forms
- unlawfully adverb
- unlawfulness noun
Etymology
Origin of unlawful
First recorded in 1250–1300, unlawful is from the Middle English word unlaweful. See un- 1, lawful
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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.