Legal Meaning
/ˈliː.ɡəl/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjRelating to the law or to lawyers.
adjHaving its basis in the law.
Sentence Examples
Your conduct is perfectly legal.
It is better for you to act by legal means.
His legal team immediately sought to challenge the decision.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The city council voted to allow the construction because it was ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You should seek ____ advice before signing any contract to ensure that you fully understand all the terms.
Word Origin & History
Learned borrowing from Latin lēgālis (“legal”), from lēx (“law”). Doublet of loyal and leal.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle."
— 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, archived from the original on 19 Sep 2020, page 55:
"In South Africa, it’s still legal to “trophy hunt” the white rhino, which [Anna] Merz and others find reprehensible."
— 1992 December 17, Michael Granberry, “Vanishing Act: Animals: A world without the homely rhino? […]”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2025:
"After 50 years, legal segregation is a distant memory, and race in America is not the unbridgeable chasm it once was. The country has a black president. The sort of comity that King evoked, in which the descendants of slaves and of slave owners “sit down together at the table of brotherhood”, can be found in many places, including the Deep South. The rate of marriage between blacks and whites is rising."
— 2013 August 23, “Waking life”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8850, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2023:
"Programming languages are designed so that each legal program has exactly one meaning"
— 2021, John V. Guttag, Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python, Third Edition, page 7:
""Is she even legal? Shame on you, diddlin' a girl too young to buy beer. You being a church deacon and all." If looks could kill, Dale would be dead."
— 2012 September 18, Sandra Brown, Low Pressure, Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The city council voted to allow the construction because it was ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You should seek ____ advice before signing any contract to ensure that you fully understand all the terms.