lawful

English

Alternative forms

• lawfull (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English laweful, equivalent to law +‎ -ful, conflated with Middle English leful, leeful, leveful (“according to law, lawful, pertaining to law”). See also leveful.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔːfʊl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːfʊl

Adjective

lawful (comparative more lawful, superlative most lawful)

1. (law) Conforming to, or recognised by the laws of society.

   Lawful money is always a land asset and can only be issued by an actual land jurisdiction government — not a corporation.

   Synonyms: just, legal, legitimate, licit

   Antonyms: nonlawful, unlawful

2. Operating according to some law or fundamental principle.
   • 2014, George Ortega, Free Will: Its Refutation, Societal Cost and Role in Climate Change Denial:

     […] so that the person's actions are merely the inevitable product of lawful causes stemming from prior events […]

Related terms

• lawfully
• lawfulness

Translations

conforming to or recognised by law or rules

• Bulgarian: законен (bg) (zakonen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 合法的 (zh) (héfǎ de)

• Dutch: wettig (nl), rechtmatig (nl)
• Finnish: lainmukainen (fi), laillinen (fi)
• French: légal (fr)
• German: gesetzlich (de), legal (de), rechtsmäßig
• Hungarian: törvényes (hu), törvényszerű (hu)
• Icelandic: löglegur (is)
• Japanese: 合法な (ja) (ごうほうな, gōhō na)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: lēgitimus (la)
• Latvian: likumīgs

• Luxembourgish: gesetzlech
• Middle English: laweful
• Old English: ǣwlīċ
• Polish: prawowierny (pl), prawomierny, prawomocny (pl), legalny (pl)
• Portuguese: legal (pt), legalizado (pt)
• Romanian: legal (ro) m
• Russian: зако́нный (ru) (zakónnyj), лега́льный (ru) (legálʹnyj), правоме́рный (ru) (pravomérnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: dligheach
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Swahili: halali (sw)
• Swedish: laglig (sv), berättigad (sv), rättmätig (sv)
• Turkish: yasal (tr)

operating according to some law or fundamental principle

• Finnish: oikeutettu

Noun

lawful (plural lawfuls)

1. (role-playing games) A character having a lawful alignment.

Anagrams

• awfull

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Middle English

Adjective

lawful

1. Alternative form of laweful