legal
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: Learned borrowing from Latin lēgālis (“legal”), from lēx (“law”). Doublet of loyal and leal.
Inflected forms:
form: more legal
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most legal
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: legals
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Relating to the law or to lawyers.
pos: adj
examples: legal profession
According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.
gloss: Having its basis in the law.
pos: adj
examples: legal precedent
gloss: Being established, permitted, required or prescribed by law.
pos: adj
examples: legal motion
In South Africa, it’s still legal to “trophy hunt” the white rhino, which [Anna] Merz and others find reprehensible.
After 50 years, legal segregation is a distant memory, and race in America is not the unbridgeable chasm it once was. The country has a black president. The sort of comity that King evoked, in which the descendants of slaves and of slave owners “sit down together at the table of brotherhood”, can be found in many places, including the Deep South. The rate of marriage between blacks and whites is rising.
gloss: Following the rules or syntax of a system, such as a game or a programming language.
pos: adj
examples: If you have no legal move, but are not in check the game is a draw.
Programming languages are designed so that each legal program has exactly one meaning
gloss: Above the age of consent or the legal drinking age.
pos: adj
tags: informal
examples: "Is she even legal? Shame on you, diddlin' a girl too young to buy beer. You being a church deacon and all." If looks could kill, Dale would be dead.
"Is she even legal? She looks like a minor." Elias whispers back, "Of course. I checked her passport. She's 20. What do you take me for? Be nice. I like her." I immediately smile at the girl behind Elias,[…]
gloss: Permitting the use and/or sale of cannabis; in which cannabis is lawful.
pos: adj
examples: Whether you're interested in opening a retail marijuana store in a legal state or if you're interested in investing in someone or a company, which is operating in a legal state, there are[…]
[Because] marijuana is still a federally illegal drug, using the drug in a child's presence, even in a legal state, could thus be construed as child abuse.
gloss: The legal department of a company or organization.
pos: noun
tags: informal
uncountable
examples: Legal wants this in writing.
gloss: A spy who is attached to, and ostensibly employed by, an embassy, military outpost, etc.
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: One who immigrated lawfully.
pos: noun
tags: US
countable
informal
gloss: Of paper or document layouts, measuring 8+¹⁄₂ × 14 inches (216 × 356 mm).
pos: noun
tags: Canada
US
uncountable
gloss: Of paper or document layouts, measuring 8+¹⁄₂ × 13 inches (216 × 330 mm).
pos: noun
tags: Philippines
countable
uncountable
Derived words: antilegal
chief legal officer
counterlegal
cyberlegal
dentolegal
extralegal
hyperlegal
intralegal
juridico-legal
lagger
legal action
legal advice
legal age
legal agreement
legal aid
legal assistant
legal beagle
legal blindness
legal cap
legal capacity
legal certainty
legal chemistry
legal code
legal consequence
legal cynicism
legal doublet
legal duty
legal eagle
legal effect
legal entity
legalese
legal-ese
legal fiction
legal gap
legal gender
legal height
legal heir
legal high
legal hold
legal holiday
legal instrument
legal interest
legalise
Legalism
legalism
legalist
legalistic
legalitarian
legality
legalize
legally
legal name
legalness
legal notice
legal pad
legal person
legal positivism
legal professional privilege
legal recourse
legal relationship
legal remedy
legal representative
legal separation
legal sex
legalspeak
legal studies
legal system
legaltech
legal tender
legal theory
legal vacuum
legal void
legal year
medicolegal
metalegal
nonlegal
paralegal
politicolegal
postlegal
prelegal
preterlegal
pseudolegal
psycholegal
quasilegal
semilegal
sociolegal
sociopoliticolegal
street-legal
sublegal
supralegal
ultralegal
legal-size
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