Definitions

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

  • adjective Prohibited by law.
  • adjective Prohibited by official rules.
  • adjective Unacceptable to or not performable by a computer.
  • noun A person who is not legally authorized to live and work in a country.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not legal; contrary to law; unlawful; illicit: as, an illegal act; illegal commerce.
  • Synonyms Illegal, Felonious, etc. (See criminal.) Unlawful, Illegitimate, etc. (See lawful.)

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

  • adjective Not according to, or authorized by, law; specif., contrary to, or in violation of, human law; unlawful; illicit; hence, immoral

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

  • adjective law Contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law.
  • adjective Forbidden by established rules
  • adjective philately Totally fictitious, and often issued on behalf of a non-existent territory or country.
  • adjective of an immigrant Being an illegal immigrant; residing in a country illegally.
  • noun colloquial, derogatory An illegal immigrant.
  • noun An illegal resident spy.

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

  • adjective prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From il- (an assimilated version of in-) + legal. In senses relating to immigration, via clipping from illegal alien or illegal immigrant.

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