Meanings
plural statutes
- countableuncountableA written law or ordinance passed by a legislative body.First known use ca. 1300s
statute book
4 more examples
The new statute limited working hours.
Parliament passed a statute on environmental protection.
criminal statute
Despite criticisms which were made of the Railway Executive, it must be recalled that the general framework of the new railway set-up was established by statute, while this form of organisation was particularly well adapted for carrying out the unification of the railways—a very different thing from the purely political act of nationalisation, but an essential part of the objective of nationalisation.
1958 January 28, 'Borderer', “Ten Years of British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 13 - countablehistoricaluncountablelawA (theoretical) type of statutory law specified as regulating a person or thing.First known use 1791
- countablehistoricaluncountablelawLegal status of being subject to this.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinstatutus
- Late Latinstatutum“a statute”
- Old Frenchstatut
- Middle Englishstatut
- Englishstatute
From Middle English statut, from Old French statut, from Late Latin statutum (“a statute”), neuter singular of Latin statutus, past participle of statuō (“to set up, establish”).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian закон, статут
- закон (zakon)written law as laid down by the legislature
- статут (statut)written law as laid down by the legislature
Catalan estatut, estatuts
- estatutwritten law as laid down by the legislature
- estatutslegislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
Chinese Mandarin 法規 /法规, 法令
- 法規 /法规 (fǎguī)written law as laid down by the legislature
- 法令 (fǎlìng)written law as laid down by the legislature
- 法令 (fǎlìng)legislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
Estonian põhikiri
- põhikiriwritten law as laid down by the legislature
Finnish säädös, säädös
- säädöswritten law as laid down by the legislature
- säädöslegislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
French statut, statut
- statutwritten law as laid down by the legislature
- statutlegislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
German Statut, Statut
- Statutwritten law as laid down by the legislature
- Statutlegislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
Hindi अधिनियम, क़ानून
- अधिनियम (adhiniyam)written law as laid down by the legislature
- क़ानून (qānūn)written law as laid down by the legislature
- कानून (kānūn)written law as laid down by the legislature
- अधिनियम (adhiniyam)legislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
Hungarian alapokmány, statútum
- alapokmánywritten law as laid down by the legislature
- statútumwritten law as laid down by the legislature
- törvénywritten law as laid down by the legislature
- rendeletwritten law as laid down by the legislature
- alapszabálylegislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
- alapító okiratlegislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
- szabályzatlegislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
- szabályrendeletlegislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
- rendtartáslegislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
Indonesian undang-undang, statuta
- undang-undangwritten law as laid down by the legislature
- statutawritten law as laid down by the legislature
- ketetapan hukumlegislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
Irish reacht, reacht
- reachtwritten law as laid down by the legislature
- reachtlegislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
Japanese 律令
- 律令 (ritsuryō)legislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
Latin scītum
- scītumwritten law as laid down by the legislature
Malay statut
- statutwritten law as laid down by the legislature
Norwegian Bokmål statutt, vedtekt
- statuttwritten law as laid down by the legislature
- vedtektwritten law as laid down by the legislature
Persian قانون
- قانون (qânun)written law as laid down by the legislature
Polish statut, ustawa
- statutwritten law as laid down by the legislature
- ustawawritten law as laid down by the legislature
Russian уста́в, стату́т
- уста́в (ustáv)written law as laid down by the legislature
- стату́т (statút)written law as laid down by the legislature
- уста́в (ustáv)legislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
- стату́т (statút)legislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
Spanish estatuto
- estatutowritten law as laid down by the legislature
Yiddish געזעץ, סטאַטוט
- געזעץ (gezéts)written law as laid down by the legislature
- סטאַטוט (statút)written law as laid down by the legislature
- תּקנה (takóne)written law as laid down by the legislature
- געזעץ (gezéts)legislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
- סטאַטוט (statút)legislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
- תּקנה (takóne)legislated rule of society which has been given the force of law
Cite this entry
statute. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/statute
“statute.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/statute. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “statute,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/statute.
Source: statute on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.