lawlessness

English

Etymology

From lawless +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

lawlessness (countable and uncountable, plural lawlessnesses)

1. A lack of law and order; anarchy.
2. Defiance of the law; outlawry, exorbitant levels of crime.
   • 2009 August 12, Jennifer 8. Lee, “Corruption Found at Waterfront Watchdog”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, created in the 1950s to break the mob’s grip on the docks, became its own bastion of corruption and lawlessnesses, according to a scathing report from the released on Tuesday after a nearly two-year investigation by the state inspector general’s office.

   • 2023 August 28, Gail Collins and Bret Stephens, “Vivek Ramaswamy Is Suddenly Part of Our Political Life”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     We’re in decline because a spirit of lawlessness, shamelessness and brainlessness has become a leading feature of a conservative movement that was supposed to be a bulwark against all three.

Synonyms

• unlaw

Translations

lack of law and order

• Arabic: عَدَم وُجُود قَوَانِين m (ʕadam wujūd qawānīn)
• Azerbaijani: qanunsuzluq, hüquqsuzluq, özbaşınalıq
• Belarusian: беззако́нне n (bjezzakónnje), бяспра́ўе n (bjaspráŭje)
• Bulgarian: беззако́ние (bg) n (bezzakónie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無法無天／无法无天 (zh) (wúfǎwútiān)

• Crimean Tatar: qanunsızlıq
• Czech: nezákonnost f, bezpráví (cs) n
• Danish: lovløshed c, retsløshed c
• Dutch: wetteloosheid (nl) f
• Finnish: laittomuus (fi)
• French: anarchie (fr) f, illégalité (fr) f
• German: Gesetzlosigkeit f, Zügellosigkeit (de) f
• Greek: ανομία (el) f (anomía), αναρχία (el) f (anarchía)
• Irish: aindlí m
• Italian: illegalità (it) f, Far West m
• Japanese: 無法 (ja) (むほう, muhō)
• Korean: 무법 (ko) (mubeop)
• Latvian: nelikumība f
• Macedonian: беззаконитост f (bezzakonitost)
• Maori: turekoretanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lovløshet m or f, akt (no) m, fredløshet m

  Nynorsk: lovløyse f

• Persian: بی‌قانونی (bi-qânuni)
• Polish: bezprawie (pl) n, swawola (pl) f
• Portuguese: anarquia (pt) f
• Romanian: anarhie (ro) f, ilegalitate (ro) f (loosely)
• Russian: беззако́ние (ru) n (bezzakónije), беспра́вие (ru) n (besprávije), беспреде́л (ru) m (bespredél) (colloquial)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: бѐспра̄вље n, беза́коње n

  Roman: bèsprāvlje (sh) n, bezákonje (sh) n

• Slovak: nezákonnosť f, bezprávie f
• Slovene: brezzakonje n
• Spanish: iniquidad (es) f
• Swedish: laglöshet (sv) c
• Ukrainian: беззако́ння (uk) n (bezzakónnja), безпра́в'я (uk) n (bezprávʺja)