lawful
Americanadjective
-
allowed or permitted by law; not contrary to law.
a lawful enterprise.
- Synonyms:
- legal
-
recognized or sanctioned by law; legitimate.
a lawful marriage; a lawful heir.
- Synonyms:
- licit
-
appointed or recognized by law; legally qualified.
a lawful king.
-
acting or living according to the law; law-abiding.
a lawful man; a lawful community.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- lawfully adverb
- lawfulness noun
- prelawful adjective
- prelawfully adverb
- prelawfulness noun
- quasi-lawful adjective
- quasi-lawfully adverb
Etymology
Origin of lawful
First recorded in 1250–1300, lawful is from the Middle English word laghful. See law 1, -ful
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In one case agents questioned a grandmother — a lawful permanent resident — about why she went to a casino, according to her grandson.
From Los Angeles Times
But that didn’t square with a Jan. 9 memo handed down by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that calls for AI labs to amend their defense contracts to allow “any lawful use” of their technology.
From MarketWatch
The Pentagon prefers a contract to use the tools for “any lawful use,” as outlined in its AI strategy.
However, it wants the company to accept "any lawful use" of its tools.
From BBC
The move comes shortly before a 5:01 p.m. deadline for Anthropic to let the military use its models in all lawful use cases, a concession the company has refused to make.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
