Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not sanctioned by custom or law; unlawful.
- adj. Linguistics Improperly formed; ungrammatical.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not authorized or permitted; prohibited; unlicensed; unlawful: as, illicit trade; illicit intercourse.
- Acting unlawfully; clandestine.
- Synonyms Unlawful, Illegitimate, etc. See lawful.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not permitted or allowed; prohibited; unlawful.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. contrary to or forbidden by law
- adj. contrary to accepted morality (especially sexual morality) or convention
Etymologies
- From French illicite, from Latin illicitus, from in- 'not' + licet ("it is allowed") (Wiktionary)
- Latin illicitus : in-, not; see in-1 + licitus, lawful; see licit. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term illicit device contained with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act is argued to be limited to pirate or counterfeit decoders and therefore does not include decoders procured in this manner.”
“Prosecution of those who require marihuana for medical purposes did not achieve any of the three objectives of the CDSA identified by the Crown: preventing harm, international treaty obligations, and control of the trade in illicit drugs.”
“Of course, there will be skeptics who will surmise that he had been involved in illicit activities which lead to his death.”
“Typically, the safety advice to travelers to Mexico is to avoid driving at night, don't wear flashy clothing or jewelry, don't engage in illicit conduct etc.”
“Bank Mellat officials have denied engaging in illicit business and have told Iranian state-owned media that the U.S. has never provided any evidence to back its claims.”
“The real fear over the bachelor girl was the state of her morals: a woman alone could engage in illicit relations with men and thus enjoy experiences formerly reserved for married women.”
“The Complaint alleges that the insider trading netted approximately $1 million in illicit profits by trading ahead of at least 11 mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate deals.”
The Huffington Post: Bill Singer: Insider Trading: Frequent Flyers, Potatoes and Macy's
“After being sued, Whitman tacitly admitted her fault, disgorging several million dollars in illicit profits.”
The Huffington Post: Douglas M. Branson: Meg Whitman for Governor: Do We Have Deniabillity on That?
“U.S. agents had posed as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC. Bout has denied the charges of involvement in illicit arms trading to areas such as Africa, South America and the Middle East.”
Voice of America: Thai Court Allows More Charges Against Russian Arms Dealer
“A recent report by the UN Economic Commission for Africa notes that 3% of Africa's public resources are diverted to private hands, and that the continent loses 60% in illicit capital flows to foreign tax havens.”
Voice of America: UN Summit Ends with Continuing Debate Over Millennium Development Goals
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘illicit’.
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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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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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EN - confusables
Similar words meaning different things
accept, except, adverse, averse, advice, advise, affect, effect, aisle, isle, all together, altogether and 134 more...
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Unknown
coalition, cabinet, tweet, defuse, steep, ancestral, mindset, breach, infraction, egregious, curb, backbite and 282 more...
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pretty dots all in a row
polka dotted words
hijack, jinx, jingle, beijing, jive, jilted, jittery, jill, hijab, haji, hajj, hijinks and 149 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 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...health, follow, condition, meeting, minister, beginning, chapter, information, language, remain, covered, respect and 2614 more...
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Words For Novel (Part 3)
fibers, gypsy, polymer, schism, syphilitic garden..., holocaust, scrutinant, contemplate, aftermath, consequence, deadlock, impasse and 153 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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wajo22's list
signation, genuflection, precosmic, pretemporal, precreative, pre-hexameral, preplanetary, pre-terrestrial, antemundane,
antemundane, signation, genuflection, precosmic, pretemporal, precreative, pre-hexameral, preplanetary, keeperess, trichotillomania, deerstalker, danseur and 99 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, I
irenic, inimical, ignotism, infrangible, internecine, illumine, ingot, imposter, iconoclast, indefeasible, indefatigable, impingement and 184 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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kingofbash's Words
bash, poleaxed, salacious, libertine, charlatan, aplomb, fortuitous, finagle, apoplectic, debutante, carte blanche, aardvark and 472 more...
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words found to be generally pleasing
alabaster, mahogany, camphor, coalesce, spire, portmanteau, gadabout, palaver, dolor, dour, dun, luminesce and 610 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL I
iconoclast, idiosyncrasy, ignoble, ignominious, illicit, illusory, illustrious, imbibe, imbue, immaculate, immaterial, immolate and 155 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for illicit.
Dan337 “The lawyer tries to elicit a description of the attacker from the witness. ‘Elicit’ is always a verb. ‘Illicit,’ in contrast, is always an adjective describing something illegal or naughty.”
— Paul Brians. “Elicit/Illicit”. Common Errors in English Usage Sep 7, 2011