Lawful vs Illegal - What's the difference?
lawful | illegal | Antonyms |
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= 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.
(colloquial, offensive) An illegal immigrant.
An illegal resident spy.
* 2012 , , ‘Colder War’, Literary Review , issue 399:
Lawful is an antonym of illegal.
As adjectives the difference between lawful and illegal
is that lawful is conforming to, or recognised by law or rules while illegal is contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law.As a noun illegal is
(colloquial|offensive) an illegal immigrant.illegal
English
Adjective
(en adjective)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.}}
Usage notes
The use of "illegal" to describe a person rather than an action is often regarded as offensive.https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/04/03-5Synonyms
* (forbidden by law) criminal, felonious, illicit, unlawful * (totally fictitious) bogusAntonyms
* (forbidden by law) lawful, legalDerived terms
* illegal alien * illegal immigrantNoun
(en noun)- 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.