Dictionary Definition
illegal adj : prohibited by law or by official or
accepted rules; "an illegal chess move" [ant: legal]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From il- (an assimilated version of in-) + legal. In senses relating to immigration, via back-formation or clipping from illegal alien or illegal immigrant.Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -iːɡəl
Adjective
- Contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law.
- Not permitted by
rules
- Moving a pawn backward is an illegal move in chess.
- In the context of "stamp-collecting|of an issue printed for collectors": Totally fictitious, and often issued on behalf of a non-existent territory or country.
- In the context of "of an immigrant": Being an illegal immigrant; residing in a country illegally.
Synonyms
Antonyms
- i-c forbidden by law lawful, legal
Derived terms
Translations
Contrary to or forbidden by law
- Catalan: il·legal
- Dutch: strafbaar
- German: illegal
- Kurdish: neqanûnî, qedexe, memnûh, yasax, qaçax, derqanûn
- Romanian: ilegal
- Russian: незаконный, нелегальный
- Spanish: ilegal
Not permitted by rules
- Catalan: il·legal
- Kurdish: qedexe, memnûh
- Romanian: ilegal
- Russian: неправильный, неверный
Noun
Translations
An illegal immigrant
- Russian: нелегал
German
Adjective
Synonyms
Extensive Definition
Illegal, or unlawful, is used to describe
something that is prohibited or not authorized by law or, more generally, by rules specific to a particular
situation (such as a game).
Illegal may also refer to:
- Illegal (1932 film)
- Illegal (1955 film)
- Illegal (band), a short-lived 1990s rap duo featuring AJ Staul and Peter Scuby
- "Illegal" (song), a track from pop singer Shakira's 2005 release, Oral Fixation Vol. 2
- Used as a noun, it is short for illegal immigrant
See also
- Illegal Art, a record label
- Illegal drug trade
- Illegalism, an anarchist philosophy which openly embraced criminality as a lifestyle
- Illegal Records, a record label
illegal in Simple English: Illegal
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
aberrant, abnormal, abominable, actionable, against the law,
anarchic, anarchistic, anomic, atrocious, banned, barred, black-market, bootleg, chargeable, contraband, contrary to law,
criminal, delinquent, deviant, disgraceful, evil, felonious, flawed, forbade, forbid, forbidden, hardly the thing,
hot, ignominious, illegitimate, illicit, impermissible, improper, inappropriate, incorrect, indecorous, inequitable, infamous, iniquitous, interdicted, irregular, justiciable, lawless, nonconstitutional,
nonlegal, nonlicit, nonpermissible, not done,
not permitted, not the thing, off limits, off-base, off-color, out
of bounds, out-of-line, outlaw, outlawed, prohibited, proscribed, punishable, ruled out,
sacrilegious,
scandalous, shameful, shameless, sinful, taboo, tabooed, terrible, triable, unallowed, unauthorized, unbalanced, unconstitutional, under
the ban, under-the-counter, under-the-table, undeserved, undue, unequal, unequitable, uneven, unfit, unfitting, unjust, unlawful, unlicensed, unmeet, unmerited, unofficial, unpermissible, unrighteous, unrightful, unsanctioned, unseemly, unstatutory, unsuitable, untouchable, unwarrantable, unwarranted, verboten, vetoed, wicked, wrong, wrongful