unlawfuladj.adv.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈlɔːf(ᵿ)l/, U.S. /ˌənˈlɔf(ə)l/, /ˌənˈlɑf(ə)l/ A. adj.
1. Contrary to or prohibited by law; not conforming to, permitted by, or recognized by law; illegal; unjust, wrongful.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > illegality > [adjective]
unleefula1382
unlawfula1387
wrongfulc1386
unleesomec1400
unlisible?c1425
wrong1480
unlegitimate1602
illicit1606
illegal1626
non licet1628
adulterine1640
unlegal1640
illegitimate1645
illegitime1669
wrongous1671
contraband1686
illicitous1693
sly1829
unprocedural1929
bent1930
bust-out1934
bandulu1980
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 459 Hit is unlaweful [L. nefas] among us to woundy þe hilles wiþ culter and wiþ schare.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 29516 Þat cursing tald vn-laghful es þat ordir wantes and right-settnes O lagh.
a1450 in F. W. Willmore Hist. Walsall (1887) 166 If eny..servnte..be founden..plaiyng at eny unlawefull games,..as dyce, tables, cardes, cloch, tenes, foteball, or eny other lyke contrarye to the statute of this lande and ordenaunce of the same towne.
a1450 Generides (Pierpont Morgan) (1865) l. 3024 (MED) Here ye thes vnlawful reasouns Mi lord the Soudon seith vs among?
1515 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxf. (1880) 13 William Flemynge usith..unlawfull mesures, that is to seye, an unlawfull yerde.
a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 418 Vnlaufull & hurtfull ordenaunces made by the seid dyers.
1581 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Var. Coll. (1901) I. 68 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 784) XXXVI. i. 1 They have used certeine games called Trolemadame and ryffling for disshes and platters,..being unlawful and cossyning games.
1652 M. Nedham tr. J. Selden Of Dominion of Sea 449 Anie other prohibited places and unlawful Ports whatsoever, in the Kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
1668 A. Marvell Let. 7 Mar. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 67 The unlawfull meetings of Papists & Nonconformists.
a1734 R. North Examen (1740) iii. viii. §60. 630 The Corporation..for every unlawful Act done by the Body was seisable, for the Abuser, as forfeited.
1790 in Trial J. Vance 43 If a suitable number of persons assemble for the purpose of committing an unlawful act, they are no doubt riotors.
1805 R. Southey Madoc i. xv. 157 Becket did excommunicate thy sire For his unlawful marriage.
1891 F. W. Farrar Darkness & Dawn II. liv. 211 A fresh edict..which declared Christianity to be an unlawful religion.
1927 Amer. Mercury Nov. 285/1 It is now unlawful in California..to read the Constitution within the hearing of citizens passing along a public highway.
1979 Economist 28 July 24/3 For the unlawful possession of these drugs, the maximum penalty is five years' imprisonment.
2006 S. Townsend Queen Camilla 46 Mr Anwar saw on the news that novelty slippers would soon become unlawful.
2. Contrary to or prohibited by moral standards or religious precepts; immoral, unethical; wicked, sinful.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > immorality > [adjective]
unlawfula1387
unprincipled1644
immoral1660
unmoralized1668
non-moral1858
moralless1869
unethic1871
unethical1871
messy1914
society > morality > moral evil > [adjective] > immoral or unethical
unlawfula1387
viciousc1386
immoral1660
unmoralized1668
non-moral1858
unethic1871
unethical1871
messy1914
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 11 Ȝif þe kyng trespased he studied fast hym to amende, and so he made hym do penaunce seven ȝere for unlaweful liggynge by a mynchoun.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. ii. xix. 87 Þe fend..schewiþ vnlaweful schappis [L. formas illicitas] to þe iȝen, for he wolde by þe siȝt distroye chastite.
a1450 tr. Aelred of Rievaulx De Institutione Inclusarum (Bodl.) (1984) 12 (MED) A mayde shuld so be occupied vpon..prayer..that though she were stured to do vnlauful thinges, she shuld not be suffred for remors of conscience.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Mviiiv They profite moche in the refreynyng..of vnlawfull pleasures.
?1556 (a1500) Knight of Curtesy (Copland) sig. A.iii The knight..Which with your lady was talkinge Of loue vnlawfull pryuely.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) v. i. 51 Hath not else his eye Stray'd his affection in vnlawfull loue? View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iii. v. 70 May be the amorous Count solicites her In the vnlawfull purpose. View more context for this quotation
1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper iii. 206 That Anabaptisticall..tenet..that all warres were utterly unlawfull under the Gospel.
1701 N. Grew Cosmol. Sacra v. v. 336 If Unclean Thoughts are unlawful; then unclean Words, are more so.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 178. ⁋4 The allurements of unlawful pleasure.
1827 E. Bulwer-Lytton Falkland 81 How fearful, how selfish, how degrading, is unlawful love!
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. vii. 244 He cannot be accused of having deviated from the path of right in search..of unlawful pleasure.
1956 R. Baldick tr. J.-K. Huysmans Against Nature (2005) ix. 103 The Christian religion had also instilled an unlawful ideal of voluptuous pleasure.
2011 Internat. Herald Tribune (Nexis) 2 June 504 Tattoos are considered unlawful, or ‘haram’, for Muslims.
3. Of a person: not obeying the law; acting illegally or without legal authority; without legal standing.Quot. a1387 may alternatively be interpreted as showing the adverb (see sense B.).
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [adjective] > violating the law
unlawfula1387
trespassant1587
perfract1616
rumpant1621
transgressive1646
violatory1687
violent1697
violative1745
law-breaking1767
transgressinga1812
transgredient1837
infringing1897
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 13 For þe malys of þe Romayns, þat made of hem self unlaweful [c1400 Tiber. unlawefollyche, a1425 Harl. unlawfulich] popes, he ordeyned þat no pope schulde be i-made wiþoute assente of þe emperour.
1429–30 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Sept. 1429 §27. m. 11 Unlaweful hunters of forestes, parkes or warennes.
?1536 A. Boleyn Let. in Harleian Misc. (1808) I. 201 Mine offence being so lawfully proved, your grace is at liberty..to execute worthy punishment on me as an unlawful wife.
1581 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xliv. 319 Moyses forbad ȝou to giue the nichbouris vyf To the vnlauchful husbandis cumpanie.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iv. ii. 14 I haue beene an vnlawfull bawd. View more context for this quotation
1643 W. Prynne Soveraigne Power Parl. i. 49 These Lawes..are the Acts of the..Courts themselves, which are lawfull; not of the usurping King, who is unlawfull.
1733 N. Mann Of True Years of Birth & Death Christ 37 Another Son of Herod the Great, the second but unlawful Husband of Herodias.
1859 C. Dickens Tale of Two Cities ii. i. 34 The unlawful opener of a letter was put to Death.
1893 Colonies & India 11 Mar. 21/1 When a settler's boat is left unpadlocked overnight it soon finds an unlawful crew.
1905 B. M. Dix Fair Maid of Graystones xix. 209 Lest the smoke from the hut should betray to some loiterer the presence of unlawful tenants upon the islet.
1973 ICLR: Appeal Cases (Lexis) No. 964. 982 A citizen, anxious to exercise his old common law power to arrest an affrayer, would first have to be satisfied that there were at least two unlawful participants.
2014 USA Today (Nexis) 31 July 7 a The increase in unlawful immigrant workers from Central America is being followed by their children coming north to join them.
4. Of offspring: born outside marriage, illegitimate.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > relationship to parent > [adjective] > illegitimate
cheves-bornOE
misbegetc1325
bastc1330
misbegettenc1330
bastard1376
unlawfula1425
naturalc1425
illegitime1502
base1529
base-begot1534
illegitimate1536
misbegotten1554
bastarded1579
misborn1583
nameless1594
spurious1598
unfathered1600
misgotten1623
misbegot1626
baseborn1645
slip-sprung1665
born in (or under or out of) wedlock1675
side wind1738
love-begotten1761
born on the wrong side of the blanket1771
anonymous1869
sinistral1897
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 312 Joseph..perceyvide þat she [sc. Mary] was wiþ childe, and wolde not disseyve oure Ladi... For Crist wolde be conseyved in wedlok..ellis myȝten þe Jewis forsake Crist as unlawful... And so Joseph shulde..kepe him as his lawful sone.
c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Knychthede (1993) viii. 52 A knychtis wyf yat has barnis vnlaufull of villaine generacioun, dois lytill honour to the order of knychthede.
1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. f. vv You are the veraye ryghte chyldren of God, and no bastardes nor vnlawfull chyldren.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. x. sig. T8 Dronke in my affection to that vnlawfull and vnnaturall sonne of mine.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iii. vi. 7 All the vnlawfull issue, that their Lust Since then hath made betweene them. View more context for this quotation
1681 Visct. Stair Inst. Law Scotl. II. xxvii. 127 None of the Intervenient Blood were Bastards, or unlawful Children.
1718 A. Nisbet Ess. Armories iii. 37 Some of them [sc. the younger Sons of Sovereigns] carried nothing of the Royal Ensign more than the unlawful Children did.
1832 B. Disraeli Contarini Fleming I. i. i. 3 The unlawful children of Ignorance and Expediency.
1864 C. L. Balfour Troubled Waters viii. 112 As he had not his parents' love, it certainly did not much matter whether he was their lawful or unlawful offspring.
1918 J. E. Mahaffey What ails World viii. 145 I had a perfect view of..Miss Education..smashing commonwealths and kingdoms to gratify the greed of her unlawful sons and deluded husbands.
2000 H. Kamen Early Mod. European Society vii. 173 The offending woman clearly invited shame, especially if she gave birth to an unlawful child.
5. Contrary to or not conforming to a rule or rules; irregular.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > [adjective] > conforming to rules of grammar > not
false1551
unregular1569
anomalous1659
unlawful1729
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > inaccuracy, inexactness > incorrectness of language > [adjective]
foula1400
unproperc1443
bada1522
tarry1579
vicious1589
brokena1616
tortious1644
solecistical1654
unlawful1729
solecistic1806
unidiomatica1822
anidiomatical1826
murdered1876
1729 T. Cooke Tales 208 The same Word in the Greek and Latin likewise has unlawful Degrees of Comparison.
1836 J. R. Major Guide Greek Trag. 117 In Iambic verse it is unlawful to divide the anapæst between two words.
1866 Chess Player's Mag. New Ser. 2 322 The move of the King can, besides, be insisted on if any unlawful move whatever has been made.
1928 Dial Jan. 84 The motives could..be heard in terms of the melodic independence of each, an otherwise ‘unlawful’ chord progression being excused by the superior assertiveness of the motives themselves.
2016 S. Burnett (Queensland) Times & Rural Weekly (Nexis) 2 Aug. 20 Referee Joe Dangerfield..awarded the Stags a penalty try after he believed the try would have been scored without the unlawful play.
Unlawfully, illegally. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > illegality > [adverb]
unlawlyc1175
unlawfullya1350
unleefullya1382
wrongfully1439
unlawful1477
unleesomely1528
illegally1628
illegitimatelya1634
unlegally1638
illicitly1812
viciously1880
1477 in J. Raine Vol. Eng. Misc. N. Counties Eng. (1890) 27 (MED) William Bacon holdes ij dogges unlawefull.
1496 in J. S. Clouston Rec. Earldom of Orkney (1914) 74 I..hes sene and understandin..that the said mill is onlawchfull bigit.
Compounds
unlawful assembly n. an illegal gathering of people; spec. (English Law) a gathering of three or more people who intend to commit an act of violence or breach of the peace (now historical).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > an assemblage or collection > [noun] > of people or animals > regarded as a whole or a body of people gathered > large or numerous > disorderly
frapec1330
rabblea1398
rafflea1450
unlawful assembly1485
rabblement1543
rabble rout?1589
ringat-rangata1600
hurry1620
ribble-rabble1635
tempest1746
cohue1850
pig pile1880
dog pile1921
scrimmage1968
1485–6 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VII (Electronic ed.) Parl. Nov. 1485 1st Roll §15. m. 14 Mayntenaunce, ymbracerie, riottes or unlawefull assemble.
1549–50 Act 3 & 4 Edward VI c. 5 (title) in Statutes of Realm (1963) IV. i. 104 An Acte for the punyshment of Unlawfull Assemblyes.
1581 W. Lambarde Eirenarcha i. xix. 175 An Vnlawful Assembly is, ye company of three persons (or more) gathered togither to doe..an vnlawfull acte.
1664 Act 16 Charles II c. 4 §9 in Statutes of Realm (1963) V. 518 Every person who shall..suffer any such Conventicle unlawfull Assembly or Meeteing aforesaid to be held in his or her House.
1785 London Chron. 20 Oct. 387/1 The judiciary court will cause due enquiry to be made touching riotous and unlawful assemblies and their misdemeanors.
1841 Penny Cycl. XX. 17/1 It is an unlawful assembly when great numbers of people meet together with such circumstances of behaviour as to raise the fears of their fellow-subjects, and to endanger the public peace.
1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 564/2 A rout is an unlawful assembly which has made a motion towards the execution of its common purpose.
1919 T. W. Hughes Treat. Criminal Law & Procedure vi. xlix. 457 They are guilty of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, rout and riot.
1985 Times 7 Dec. 4/1 Three new offences of riot, violent disorder and affray will replace the old common law offences of riot, unlawful assembly and affray.
2016 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 24 Aug. b1 Police ultimately declared an unlawful assembly, and the activists moved from the meeting room.
unlawful combatant n. International Law a person treated by a state as fighting in an armed conflict without having the right to do so.The legitimacy of unlawful combatant as a term and its status in international law is the subject of debate.
ΚΠ
1901 Manch. Guardian 15 Nov. 5/4 The Boer commanders..regard any Kaffir found in our military service as an unlawful combatant, much, for instance, as our Generals regard a Boer dressed in khaki.
1942 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 36 1086 The law of war has always distinguished..between lawful and unlawful combatants.
2011 B. West Wrong War iii. 61 Our enemies in the twenty-first century do not wear uniforms, and the Supreme Court has proved unable to provide guidelines for dealing with unlawful combatants.
unlawful killing n. Law the killing of a human being in a manner contrary to the law, as murder, manslaughter, etc.; an instance of this.In English law a verdict of unlawful killing can be returned in a coroner's inquest; cf. quot. 2012.
ΚΠ
a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) ii. xvi. sig. I.viiiv There is playne among the .x commaundementes forbydden the vnlawfull killing of any man.
1691 G. Miege New State Eng. iii. xvi. 127 Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of one without prepensed Malice.
1800 A. Addison Rep. Cases Pennsylvania 8 Homicide by misadventure is an unlawful killing by accident.
1904 Washington Post 9 Dec. 6/2 Our record of unlawful killing of human beings is far in excess of that of any other enlightened people.
2012 Independent 3 May 1/3 The coroner..pointed towards unlawful killing—either manslaughter or murder—by a ‘third party’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.adv.a1387