Meanings
comparative more unlawful · superlative most unlawful
- lawProhibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law; see illegal)
He was charged with unlawful use of a car.
1 more example
That year a U.S. appeals court found the program Snowden had exposed was unlawful and that the U.S. intelligence leaders who publicly defended it were not telling the truth.
2022 September 26, “Putin grants Russian citizenship to U.S. whistleblower Snowden”, in Mark Trevelyan, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 26 Sep 2022, EuropeSynonyms: illegal, wrongful, crimeful, criminal, illegal, illegitimate, illicit, lawbreaking
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveProhibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law; see illegal)
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivenot conforming to legality, moral law, or social convention
adjectivecontrary to or prohibited by or defiant of law
adjectivenot morally right or permissible
adjectivehaving no legally established claim
adjectivecontrary to or forbidden by law
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishunlawful
- Englishunlawful
From Middle English unlawful; equivalent to un- + lawful.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans onwettig
- onwettigprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Ancient Greek παράνομος
- παράνομος (paránomos)prohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Bulgarian незаконен
- незаконен (nezakonen)prohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Chinese Mandarin 非法的, 違法的 /违法的
- 非法的 (fēifǎ de)prohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- 違法的 /违法的 (wéifǎ de)prohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- 不合法的 (bùhéfǎ de)prohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Danish ulovlig, lovstridig
- ulovligprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- lovstridigprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- illegalprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Dutch verboden, illegaal
- verbodenprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- illegaalprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- onwettigprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- wederrechtelijkprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Finnish laiton, lainvastainen
- laitonprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- lainvastainenprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
French illégal
- illégalprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
German gesetzeswidrig, gesetzwidrig
- gesetzeswidrigprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- gesetzwidrigprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- ungesetzlichprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- illegalprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Hungarian jogsértő, jogellenes
- jogsértőprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- jogellenesprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- jogtalanprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- jogszabályellenesprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- törvénysértőprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- törvényellenesprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- törvénytelenprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- illegálisprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- tiltottprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- törvénybe ütközőprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- jogszerűtlenprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Irish aindílis, neamhdhleathach
- aindílisprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- neamhdhleathachprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- neamhdhlisteanachprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Latin illicitus
- illicitusprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Norwegian rettsstridig
- rettsstridigprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Norwegian Bokmål ulovlig
- ulovligprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Polish nielegalny, niedozwolony
- nielegalnyprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- niedozwolonyprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- bezprawnyprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Russian незако́нный, нелега́льный
- незако́нный (nezakónnyj)prohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- нелега́льный (nelegálʹnyj)prohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
- неправоме́рный (nepravomérnyj)prohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Spanish ilegal
- ilegalprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Swedish olaglig
- olagligprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Welsh anghyfreithiol
- anghyfreithiolprohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law)
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with unlawful
All rhymes →Cite this entry
unlawful. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unlawful
“unlawful.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unlawful. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unlawful,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unlawful.
Source: unlawful on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.