licit

comparative more licit · superlative most licit

1. Unforbidden; permitted.

   [T]he vanity of efforts to deter humanity from following this licit and highly profitable mobility, clearly indicate the limits of their [leaders'] power.

   2008 July 27, Jeremy Seabrook, “Obama and the illusion of leadership”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   Undated, Pope Honorius III Solet Annuere (anonymous translator), Let it not be in any way licit to anyone among men to infringe this page of our confirmation, or to contravene it with rash daring.

   You seem to have been very much offended because your father talks a little sculduddery after dinner, which it is perfectly licit for him to do, and which (although I am not very fond of it myself) appears to be entirely an affair of taste.

   a. 1895 (date written), Robert Louis Stevenson, “Opinions of the Bench”, in S[idney] C[olvin], editor, Weir of Hermiston: An Unfinished Romance, London: Chatto and Windus […], published 1896, →OCLC, page 87

   Synonyms: appropriate, legit, legitimate, acceptable, allowable, legit, legitimate, leveful

2. lawExplicitly established or constituted by law.

   The contract validly made and consummated is dissolved by death alone. However, the Church must determine what is required for a valid and licit marriage contract.

   1913, Joseph Selinger, Catholic Encyclopedia, Moral and Canonical Aspect of Marriage

   Synonyms: established, lawful, legal, de jure, lawful, legal, legitimate, rightful · Antonyms: illicit