Meanings
plural legislations
- uncountableusuallyThe act of legislating; preparation and enactment of laws.
pass legislation
1 more example
There is a lack of legislation about human cloning.
Synonyms: lawmaking
- uncountableusuallyA law which has been enacted by legislature or other governing body.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Sunday banning the sale at grocery checkouts of all plastic bags, regardless of thickness.
2024 September 23, Soumya Karlamangla, “California Bans All Plastic Bags After Its First Effort Backfired”, in The New York Times1 more example
The general rule is that constitutional provisions are self-executing, except when the provisions themselves expressly require legislations to implement them […]
2003, Ruben E. Agpalo, Statutory Construction, page 467
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe act of legislating; preparation and enactment of laws.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe act of making or enacting laws
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinlēgislātiō“the giving of the law”
- Englishlegislation
From Late Latin lēgislātiō (“the giving of the law”). Morphologically legislate + -ion.
More words from Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek νομοθεσία, νομοθέτημα
- νομοθεσία (nomothesía)the act of legislating
- νομοθέτημα (nomothétēma)law already enacted by legislature
Arabic تَشْرِيع, شَرِيعَة
- تَشْرِيع (tašrīʕ)the act of legislating
- شَرِيعَة (šarīʕa)law already enacted by legislature
- قَانُون (qānūn)law already enacted by legislature
Bulgarian законода́телство
- законода́телство (zakonodátelstvo)the act of legislating
Catalan legislació
- legislacióthe act of legislating
Chinese Mandarin 立法, 立法
- 立法 (lìfǎ)the act of legislating
- 立法 (lìfǎ)law already enacted by legislature
- 法規 /法规 (fǎguī)law already enacted by legislature
Czech zákonodárství
- zákonodárstvíthe act of legislating
Dutch wetgeving, legislatie
- wetgevingthe act of legislating
- legislatiethe act of legislating
- wetlaw already enacted by legislature
Finnish lainsäädäntö, lainsäädäntö
- lainsäädäntöthe act of legislating
- lainsäädäntölaw already enacted by legislature
French législation, loi
- législationthe act of legislating
- loilaw already enacted by legislature
German Gesetzgebung, Gesetz
- Gesetzgebungthe act of legislating
- Gesetzlaw already enacted by legislature
Greek νομοθεσία
- νομοθεσία (nomothesía)the act of legislating
Hungarian törvényhozás, becikkelyezett törvény
- törvényhozásthe act of legislating
- becikkelyezett törvénylaw already enacted by legislature
Indonesian legislasi, penyusunan
- legislasithe act of legislating
- penyusunanthe act of legislating
- pembentukanthe act of legislating
- undang-undanglaw already enacted by legislature
Irish reachtaíocht, reachtaíocht
- reachtaíochtthe act of legislating
- reachtaíochtlaw already enacted by legislature
Italian legislazione, leggi
- legislazionethe act of legislating
- leggilaw already enacted by legislature
Japanese 法制化, 法制
- 法制化 (hōseika)the act of legislating
- 法制 (hōsei)the act of legislating
- 立法 (rippō)the act of legislating
- 法律 (hōritsu)law already enacted by legislature
Korean 입법, 립법
- 입법 (ipbeop)the act of legislating
- 립법 (ripbeop)the act of legislating
- 법률 (beomnyul)law already enacted by legislature
Latin lēgislātiō
- lēgislātiōthe act of legislating
Malay penggubalan, akta
- penggubalanthe act of legislating
- aktalaw already enacted by legislature
Māori whakaturetanga
- whakaturetangathe act of legislating
Norwegian Bokmål lovgivning, lovgivning
- lovgivningthe act of legislating
- lovgivninglaw already enacted by legislature
Polish prawodawstwo, ustawodawstwo
- prawodawstwothe act of legislating
- ustawodawstwothe act of legislating
- legislacjathe act of legislating
- ustawodawstwolaw already enacted by legislature
- prawodawstwolaw already enacted by legislature
Portuguese legislação, legislação
- legislaçãothe act of legislating
- legislaçãolaw already enacted by legislature
Russian законода́тельство, зако́н
- законода́тельство (zakonodátelʹstvo)the act of legislating
- зако́н (zakón)law already enacted by legislature
Slovak zákonodarstvo
- zákonodarstvothe act of legislating
Spanish legislación, legislación
- legislaciónthe act of legislating
- legislaciónlaw already enacted by legislature
Swedish lagstiftning, lagstiftning
- lagstiftningthe act of legislating
- lagstiftninglaw already enacted by legislature
Turkish yasama, kanun
- yasamathe act of legislating
- kanunthe act of legislating
Ukrainian законода́вство, зако́н
- законода́вство (zakonodávstvo)the act of legislating
- зако́н (zakón)law already enacted by legislature
Vietnamese lập pháp
- lập phápthe act of legislating
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with legislation
Anagrams
Cite this entry
legislation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/legislation
“legislation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/legislation. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “legislation,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/legislation.
Source: legislation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.