Words / U / Law

unlawful

adjective

A2CEFR level
30/100Rarity: fairly common
TechnicalRegister

Not authorised or permitted by law.

The court declared the detention unlawful and ordered the claimant's immediate release.

Similar: illegal, unauthorised

Topic: Public law in Legal English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More law words: Public law