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[ US /ˈɫɔfəɫ/ ]
[ UK /lˈɔːfə‍l/ ]
ADJECTIVE
  1. according to custom or rule or natural law
  2. conformable to or allowed by law
    lawful methods of dissent
  3. having a legally established claim
    the true and lawful king
    the legitimate heir
  4. authorized, sanctioned by, or in accordance with law
    a legitimate government

How To Use lawful In A Sentence

  • by lawful/legal means. Lawful tends to be used in technical or literary contexts. The same is true of the opposites, unlawful and illegal, but illegal is used especially about criminal activities. Legal also means 'connected with the law':the US legal system.
  • The police had a good defence to the claims in false imprisonment and unlawful detention. Times, Sunday Times
  • The convention allows for lawful detention of children for the shortest possible period of time and as a matter of last resort.
  • The court martial highlighted confusion among high-ranking military officers about whether conditioning was lawful or not.
  • Courts may punish the unlawful party indirectly by refusing to protect the void civil-law acts.
  • Little protest as to unlawful detention, the necessity of charges, et cetera. THE LAST RAVEN
  • The Crown case was that the lawful activity which they had intentionally disrupted was retail selling. Times, Sunday Times
  • Before military action can lawfully be undertaken against Iraq, the security council must have indicated its clearly expressed assent.
  • And I stand here to-day, sir, to say that with an exception, of which I shall soon speak, _to procure such a lawful investigation of the authority under which they claimed to act, was the part I took in that day's proceedings, and the only part_. Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence The Best Speeches Delivered by the Negro from the days of Slavery to the Present Time
  • The jury delivered a verdict of unlawful killing.
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