Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Prohibited by law.
- adj. Prohibited by official rules: an illegal pass in football.
- adj. Unacceptable to or not performable by a computer: an illegal operation.
- n. An illegal immigrant.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not legal; contrary to law; unlawful; illicit: as, an illegal act; illegal commerce. It usually implies substantial contravention of law, as distinguished from mere irregularity in procedure, and from error in judicial decision.
- Synonyms Illegal, Felonious, etc. (See criminal.) Unlawful, Illegitimate, etc. (See lawful.)
Wiktionary
- adj. law Contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law.
- adj. Forbidden by established rules
- adj. philately Totally fictitious, and often issued on behalf of a non-existent territory or country.
- adj. of an immigrant Being an illegal immigrant; residing in a country illegally.
- n. colloquial, derogatory An illegal immigrant.
- n. An illegal resident spy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not according to, or authorized by, law; specif., contrary to, or in violation of, human law; unlawful; illicit; hence, immoral
WordNet 3.0
- adj. prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules
Etymologies
- From il- (an assimilated version of in-) + legal. In senses relating to immigration, via clipping from illegal alien or illegal immigrant. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Calling illegal immigrants 'undocumented workers' does not lessen the fact that they are * illegal*, that they have broken our laws and should be treated as such.”
“In terms of language, one of the toughest battles today is over the widespread use of the term "illegal immigrant," made popular by conservatives in an attempt to dehumanize undocumented immigrants.”
The Huffington Post: Eva Paterson: Building a Real Progressive Movement for Change
“For those entering illegally, the term illegal immigrant is preferred.”
Simon & Schuster: Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage
“One-size-fits-all criminal label What's more, the term "illegal immigrant" is imprecise.”
“Three years ago, he said the term "illegal immigrant" should not be used, arguing that "being in this country without documentation is not a crime.”
The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post
“I think the word "illegal" which is part of the term illegal alien, justify's the Sheriff's actions.”
“A campaign run by the always-chingón Applied Research Center publishers of the even-more-chingón magazine, Colorlines is seeking that everyone stop using the term "illegal" outright, or at the least resort to using the awkward I-word stand-in.”
The Huffington Post: Gustavo Arellano: ¡ASK A MEXICAN!: "Illegals" and The "N-Word"
“Amnesty supporters refuse to use the term illegal aliens, preferring instead undocumented aliens.”
The Huffington Post: Ed Koch: Call Them What They Are: Illegal Aliens
“I used the term illegal with the intent to emphasize its immorality is so great it is practically and indeed illegal to use the date BCE.”
“Neither does it impose criminal sanction for an attempt to mimic marriage by contract; the term illegal meaning something different from the term unenforceable.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘illegal’.
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POL - scandalous (single words only)
acolyte, archrival, backhander, backlash, baksheesh, bashing, boo, bribery, cadre, chicanery, clash, coercion and 256 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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Society
social work, coverage, affiliate, social security, ambulance, clinic, health, insurance, emergency, mail, letter, envelope and 101 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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POL - scandalous (words and collocati...
Words and collocations associated with political scandal
blow the whistle, boo, cronyism and rigging, democratic deficit, denigrate, dirty linen, fiasco, finger pointing a..., graft, hidden account, hush money, illicit financing... and 578 more...
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JURI - courtroom speak
Legal glossary with special focus on courtroom vocabulary
accused, acquittal, ADA, adjournment, adjudication, affidavit, affirmed, aggravated range, aggravating factors, allegation, alleged, answer and 794 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Benladen's Words
phallocentric, disproportionate, bewave, distraught, uncoordinated, disgraceful, bewayne, beweltered, sensical, cunt, extrapolate, dysphoria and 86 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for illegal.
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