Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not lawful; illegal.
  • adjective Contrary to accepted morality or convention; illicit.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not lawful; contrary to law; illegal; not permitted by law, human or divine; not legalized: as, an unlawful act; an unlawful oath; an unlawful society.
  • Begotten out of wedlock; illegitimate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Not lawful; contrary to law.
  • adjective (Law) See under Assembly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Prohibited; not permitted by law (either civil or criminal law; see illegal).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective contrary to or forbidden by law
  • adjective not conforming to legality, moral law, or social convention
  • adjective not morally right or permissible
  • adjective having no legally established claim
  • adjective contrary to or prohibited by or defiant of law

Etymologies

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Examples

  • He describes how he was put on suicide watch in January, how he is currently being stripped naked every night, and how he is in general terms being subjected to what he calls "unlawful pre-trial punishment".

    Stripped naked every night, Bradley Manning tells of prison ordeal 2011

  • JEANNE MESERVE, HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the American Civil Liberties Union is suing the secretary of homeland security over what it calls unlawful searches and detentions at airports.

    CNN Transcript Jun 19, 2009 2009

  • JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the American Civil Liberties Union is suing the secretary of homeland security, saying that -- that -- over what it calls unlawful searches and detentions at airports.

    CNN Transcript Jun 19, 2009 2009

  • JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, the American Civil Liberties Union is suing the secretary of Homeland Security over what it calls unlawful searches and detentions at airports.

    CNN Transcript Jun 22, 2009 2009

  • JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, and now the American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Secretary of Homeland Security over what it calls unlawful searches and detentions at the airports.

    CNN Transcript Jun 22, 2009 2009

  • The group also complained about what they termed the unlawful arrest of their leader and Museveni's main rival Kizza Besigye, the banning of political gatherings, interference with the judiciary, and harassment of opposition political representatives and supporters.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2005

  • R87-million for what he describes as his unlawful and unfair dismissal last year, the statement again stressed that the company and the board was responsible for entering and terminating employment relationships.

    Engineering News | Home 2010

  • Bruno on the defensive as he accuses prosecutors of turning a blind eye to what he calls unlawful abuse of gubernatorial powers eluding to his nemesis, former governor Eliot Spitzer.

    News10Now - TOP STORIES 2009

  • The rights body told the government to take "prompt action" to end what it called the unlawful arrest and torture of suspects.

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2009

  • Meanwhile in Israel, two human rights group have released a report documenting what they call the unlawful imprisonment of some 335 Palestinians in Israeli jails.

    Democracy Now! 2009

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