Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

legal

Syllabification: (le·gal)
Pronunciation: /ˈlēgəl/
Translate legal | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of legal

adjective

  • 1 [attributive] of, based on, or concerned with the law:the American legal system
  • appointed or required by the law:a legal requirement
  • of or relating to theological legalism.
  • Law recognized by common or statutory law, as distinct from equity.
  • US (of paper) measuring 8 ½ by 14 inches.
  • 2permitted by law:he claimed that it had all been legal

Derivatives

legally

adverb
[sentence adverb]:legally, we’re still very much married

Origin:

late Middle English (in the sense 'to do with Mosaic law'): from French, or from Latin legalis, from lex, leg- 'law'. Compare with loyal

legal in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of legal in the British & World English dictionary
  |  Cite

Word of the day

enjambment

/ enˈjam(b)mənt /
noun
(in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause …