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Compulsory vs Illegal - What's the difference?

compulsory | illegal |

As adjectives the difference between compulsory and illegal

is that compulsory is required; obligatory; mandatory while illegal is illegal; not permitted by law.

As a noun compulsory

is something that is compulsory or required.

compulsory

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Required; obligatory; mandatory.
  • * 1827 , A. D. Jr., Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal , A. and C. Black, page 212:
    • They are entirely private concerns, established by individual teachers, and attendance upon them is no more compulsory than attendance on our dispensaries.
  • * 1996 , (Ugo Pagano), Democracy and Efficiency in the Economic Enterprise , page 73:
    • Some might agree that membership in the firm is perhaps more compulsory than membership in a municipality, but balk at applying the analogy to the nation.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)
    • , volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Finland spreads word on schools , passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}
  • Having the power of compulsion; constraining.

    • Synonyms

    * mandatory

    Antonyms

    * (required) optional

    Noun

    (compulsories)
  • Something that is compulsory or required.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2008, date=March 22, author=The Associated Press, title=French Victory in Ice Dance, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=Delobel and Schoenfelder failed to win the free dance, but they had built a big lead in the compulsories and the original dance. }}

    illegal

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)
    • , volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Finland spreads word on schools , passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal , and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}
  • Forbidden by established rules.
  • (philately, of an issue printed for collectors) Totally fictitious, and often issued on behalf of a non-existent territory or country.
  • .
  • # (chiefly, US, sometimes, offensive) Being an illegal immigrant; residing in a country illegally.

    • Usage notes

    The use of "illegal" to describe a person rather than an action is often regarded as offensive.https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/04/03-5

    Synonyms

    * (forbidden by law) criminal, felonious, illicit, unlawful * (totally fictitious) bogus

    Antonyms

    * (forbidden by law) lawful, legal

    Derived terms

    * illegal alien * illegal immigrant

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (colloquial, offensive) An illegal immigrant.
  • An illegal resident spy.
  • * 2012 , , ‘Colder War’, Literary Review , issue 399:
    • Anna Chapman, whose glamorous appearance won her more publicity in the Western media than all the other illegals combined, was so successfully deceived by a US sting operation that she handed over her SVR laptop to an FBI agent posing as a Russian.

    Usage notes

    The use of "illegal" to describe a person rather than an action is often regarded as offensive, and the use of "illegal" as a noun is especially charged.

    References

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