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Illicit vs Still - What's the difference?

illicit | still |

As an adjective illicit

is (legal) not approved by law, but not invalid.

As a noun still is

.

illicit

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (legal) Not approved by law, but not invalid.
  • The bigamous marriage, while illicit, was not invalid.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , date = 2008-01-08 , title = Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership , first = Madeleine , last = Albright , authorlink = Madeleine Albright , location = New York , publisher = HarperCollins , isbn = 9780061351808 , ol = 9952500M , page = 225 , passage = Such migrants may violate our laws against illicit entry, but if that's all they do then they are trespassers, not criminals. }}
  • Breaking social norms.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year = 1993 , title = Diaries: In Power 1983-1992 , first = Alan , last = Clark , authorlink = Alan Clark , location = London , publisher = Weidenfeld and Nicholson , isbn = 0297813528 , ol = 1046930M , passage = I only can properly enjoy carol services if I am having an illicit affair with someone in the congregation. }}
  • Unlawful.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , date = 2010-07-29 , title = (The Dervish House) , first = Ian , last = McDonald , authorlink = Ian McDonald (British author) , isbn = 9780575089044 , ol = 25418126M , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=-rgZys-M4q4C&pg=PT328&dq=illicit , passage = Ay?e Erkoç learned long ago that the secret of doing anything illicit in Istanbul is to do it in full public gaze in the clear light of day. No one ever questions the legitimacy of the blatant. }}

    Usage notes

    Licit and valid are legal terms to be compared, especially in terms of canon law. With bigamy, if there is an innocent party, the innocent party is validly married; the problem is with the guilty party, who has entered into an illegal second marriage without first divorcing the earlier spouse. The marriage is valid in canon law (and often, civil law), but the guilty party goes to jail nonetheless, in that the marriage is illicit (and illegal), and the innocent party routinely receives a fast annulment and the full sympathy of the court. A corollary is that the children born of such unions are inherently legitimate.

    Synonyms

    * criminal * illegal * illegitimate * prohibited * unlawful

    still

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . Related to (l).

    Alternative forms

    * (l) * (l), (l), (l) (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Not moving; calm.
  • Still waters run deep.
  • Not effervescing; not sparkling.
  • still''' water; '''still wines
  • Uttering no sound; silent.
  • * Addison
  • The sea that roared at thy command, / At thy command was still .
  • (not comparable) Having the same stated quality continuously from a past time
  • * {{quote-news, 2007, January 3, Gerry Geronimo, Unwanted weed starts to sprout from a wayward ponencia, Manila Standard citation
  • , passage=To follow the still President’s marching orders, all that Secretary Ronnie Puno has to do is to follow the road map laid out by Justice Azcuna in his “separate” opinion. }}
  • Comparatively quiet or silent; soft; gentle; low.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings xix. 12
  • a still small voice
  • (obsolete) Constant; continual.
  • * Shakespeare
  • By still practice learn to know thy meaning.
    Synonyms
    * (not moving) fixed, stationary, unmoving * See also
    Derived terms
    * stillness

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (aspect) Up to a time, as in the preceding time.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • It hath been anciently reported, and is still received.
  • * , chapter=15
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.}}
  • *
  • Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}
  • (degree) To an even greater degree.
  • ("still" and "taller" can easily swap places here)
  • * Shakespeare
  • The guilt being great, the fear doth still exceed.
  • (conjunctive) Nevertheless.
  • * Moore
  • As sunshine, broken in the rill, / Though turned astray, is sunshine still .
  • (archaic, poetic) Always; invariably; constantly; continuously.
  • * 1609 (William Shakespeare), Troilus and Cressida 5.2.201-202:
  • Lechery, lechery, still wars and lechery; nothing else holds fashion.
  • * Addison
  • The desire of fame betrays an ambitious man into indecencies that lessen his reputation; he is still afraid lest any of his actions should be thrown away in private.
  • * Boyle
  • Chemists would be rich if they could still do in great quantities what they have sometimes done in little.
  • (extensive) .
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Sarah Glaz
  • , title= Ode to Prime Numbers , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.}}
    Synonyms
    * (up to a time) yet * (to an even greater degree) yet, even * (nevertheless) nonetheless, though, yet

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A period of calm or silence.
  • the still of the night
  • (photography) A non-moving photograph. (The term is generally used only when it is necessary to distinguish from movies.)
  • (slang) A resident of the Falkland Islands.
  • A steep hill or ascent.
  • Etymology 2

    Via (etyl), ultimately from (etyl) stilla

    Noun

    (en noun) (wikipedia still)
  • a device for distilling liquids.
  • (catering) a large water boiler used to make tea and coffee.
  • (catering) the area in a restaurant used to make tea and coffee, separate from the main kitchen.
  • A building where liquors are distilled; a distillery.
  • See also
    * pot still

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) stillan

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to calm down, to quiet
  • to still the raging sea
  • * Woodward
  • He having a full sway over the water, had power to still and compose it, as well as to move and disturb it.
  • * Shakespeare
  • With his name the mothers still their babies.
  • * Hawthorne
  • toil that would, at least, have stilled an unquiet impulse in me

    Etymology 4

    Aphetic form of distil, or from (etyl) (lena) stillare.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To trickle, drip.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.ii:
  • any drop of slombring rest / Did chaunce to still into her wearie spright [...].
  • To cause to fall by drops.
  • To expel spirit from by heat, or to evaporate and condense in a refrigeratory; to distill.
  • (Tusser)

    Statistics

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