Adjacent Words

Lawful definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LAW'FUL, a.
1. Agreeable to law; conformable to law; allowed by law; legal; legitimate. That is deemed lawful which no law forbids, but many things are lawful which are not expedient.
2. Constituted by law; rightful; as the lawful owner of lands.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: conformable to or allowed by law; "lawful methods of dissent" [ant: unlawful]
2: according to custom or rule or natural law [syn: lawful, rule-governed]
3: having a legally established claim; "the legitimate heir"; "the true and lawful king" [syn: true, lawful, rightful]
4: authorized, sanctioned by, or in accordance with law; "a legitimate government" [syn: lawful, legitimate, licit]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 14th century 1. a. being in harmony with the law <a lawful judgment> b. constituted, authorized, or established by law ; rightful <lawful institutions> 2. law-abiding <lawful citizens> • lawfully adverb • lawfulness noun Synonyms: lawful, legal, legitimate, licit mean being in accordance with law. lawful may apply to conformity with law of any sort (as natural, divine, common, or canon) <the lawful sovereign>. legal applies to what is sanctioned by law or in conformity with the law, especially as it is written or administered by the courts <legal residents of the state>. legitimate may apply to a legal right or status but also, in extended use, to a right or status supported by tradition, custom, or accepted standards <a perfectly legitimate question about taxes>. licit applies to a strict conformity to the provisions of the law and applies especially to what is regulated by law <the licit use of drugs by doctors>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. conforming with, permitted by, or recognized by law; not illegal or (of a child) illegitimate. Derivatives: lawfully adv. lawfulness n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lawful Law"ful, a. 1. Conformable to law; allowed by law; legitimate; competent. 2. Constituted or authorized by law; rightful; as, the lawful owner of lands. Lawful age, the age when the law recognizes one's right of independent action; majority; -- generally the age of twenty-one years.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If an activity, organization, or product is lawful, it is allowed by law. (FORMAL) It was lawful for the doctors to treat her in whatever way they considered was in her best interests... Hunting is a lawful activity. = legal ? unlawful, illegal ADJ • lawfully Amnesty International is trying to establish whether the police acted lawfully in shooting him. ? unlawfully ADV: ADV with v

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

lo'-fool (usually mishpaT, "relating to judgment," or "a pronounced judgment" tsaddiq, "relating to that which is righteous" or "just"; exesti, eunomos, "that which is authorized according to law," or "a privilege according to legitimate custom" (compare Eze 18:5,19, 21,27; Isa 49:24; Mt 12:10; Ac 16:21; 19:39)): Used of persons: of God, as being righteous both in the punishment of the wicked and the rewarding of the righteous (Ps 145:17 Hebrew); of man, as being just and equitable in all his dealings with his fellow-man (Eze 33:19). It is used of things when the same are in accord with a pronounced judgment or a declared will of God, and thus pleasing in His sight (Mr 3:4). When the course of individual conduct is according to God's law of righteousness, it is declared to be "lawful" (Eze 33:19). The word is used in a forensic sense as declaring the legal status of a person conforming to law. The idea of straighthess, rigid adherence to God's law, whether religious, civil or ceremonial, cannot be excluded from the definition of the word "lawful."

Neither the King James Version nor the American Standard Revised Version is consistent in its translation of the Hebrew and Greek words translated "lawful." Ofttimes the words "just" and "righteous" are used. To arrive at the full and proper meaning of "lawful," therefore, it is necessary that we study the passages containing these synonymous terms. The written Law of God is the recognized standard by which things, actions and persons are to be judged as being lawful or unlawful.

William Evans

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Legal, legalized, legitimate, constitutional, constituted. 2. Allowable, permissible. 3. Rightful, just, proper.

Moby Thesaurus

actionable, admissible, allowable, allowed, applicable, authentic, authoritative, authorized, balanced, binding, bona fide, candid, card-carrying, cogent, competent, consistent, constitutional, de jure, defensible, deserved, dinkum, due, equitable, even, evenhanded, fair, fair and square, fit, following the letter, genuine, good, honest, honest-to-God, inartificial, judicial, juridical, just, justiciable, justifiable, justified, kosher, lawmaking, legal, legislative, legit, legitimate, legitimized, level, licit, lifelike, literal, logical, meet, meet and right, merited, natural, naturalistic, original, permissible, permitted, proper, pure, real, realistic, right, right and proper, rightful, sanctionable, sanctioned, self-consistent, simon-pure, simple, sincere, solid, sound, square, statutory, sterling, substantial, sufficient, sure-enough, true to life, true to nature, true to reality, unadulterated, unaffected, unassumed, unassuming, uncolored, unconcocted, uncopied, uncounterfeited, undisguised, undisguising, undistorted, unexaggerated, unfabricated, unfanciful, unfeigned, unfeigning, unfictitious, unflattering, unimagined, unimitated, uninvented, unpretended, unpretending, unqualified, unromantic, unsimulated, unspecious, unsynthetic, unvarnished, valid, verbal, verbatim, veridical, verisimilar, warrantable, warranted, weighty, well-founded, well-grounded, within the law, word-for-word