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English (UK)
Cambridge Dictionary Online

Meaning of illegal in English

illegal
adjective
uk
/ɪˈliː.ɡəl/ us
/ɪˈliː.ɡəl/
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B2
not allowed by law:
a campaign to stop the illegal sale of cigarettes to children under 16
Prostitution is illegal in some countries.
it is illegal to It is illegal to drive a car that is not registered and insured.
illegal drug Cocaine, LSD, and heroin are all illegal drugs.
illegal substance They both tested positive for illegal substances.
Synonym
illicit
Opposites
lawful formal
legal
licit formal
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
to forbid someone or something
  • forbidHe grew up in a strict household where dating was forbidden.
  • disallowUpon review, the goal was disallowed.
  • banThe government has banned the sale of lead-based paint.
  • prohibitVehicles are prohibited from parking on the grass.
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not allowed by the rules of a sport:
There were two illegal passes in the first 13 minutes of the game, and several more followed.
The team received two warnings for illegal play.
His tackle was illegal, and his sending-off changed the course of the game.
More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Legal & illegal
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Related word

illegally
illegal
noun [ C ]
  offensive
uk
/ɪˈliː.ɡəl/ us
/ɪˈliː.ɡəl/
an offensive word for someone who lives or works in another country when they do not have the legal right to do this:
He said ID cards would make it easier to deport illegals.
Synonym
illegal immigrant
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
People who live or settle somewhere
See more results »
(Definition of illegal from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

illegal | American Dictionary

illegal
adjective
us
/ɪˈli·ɡəl/
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against the law:
Fireworks are illegal in many places.
illegal immigrant/alien
An illegal immigrant/alien is a person who has entered a country without government permission.

illegally

adverb us
/ɪˈli·ɡə·li/
illegally obtained passports
(Definition of illegal from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

illegal | Business English

illegal
adjective
uk
/ɪˈliːɡəl/ us
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LAW
not allowed by law:
According to state law, smoking is illegal in all public buildings.
illegal (for sb) to do sth It is illegal for a company to force an employee into early retirement.
make sth illegal The new law will make it illegal to record phone conversations without consent.
illegal sales/profits/trades
Compare
legal
IT
used to describe a character (= letter, number, or symbol) that you cannot use in a particular place on a computer, because it may create problems:
The colon is the only illegal character for file and folder names.

illegally

adverb
Approximately 500,000 workers enter the country illegally each year.
(Definition of illegal from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of illegal

illegal
It is possible that most of them are engaged in illegal felling of trees.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Do you believe that euthanasia has been performed in our country secretly, although it is illegal?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
At the same time more attention needs to be directed to the policing of sandalwood theft and tougher sanctions against illegal trading activities.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Throughout its existence it distributed illegal publications so as to keep the population abreast of developments and sustain morale.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Fearing they will never have another chance to visit, some overstay these visas, become ' illegal ' and risk expulsion.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The illegal transport of flocks is common along this borderline.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Most importantly, now all information of all employees is available, directly and online, the fraud fighting (illegal workers and premium evasion) can be done effectively.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
He called at the property unannounced and sent letters making demands before he owned the property, which is illegal.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Directors who were either absent at the meeting authorizing an illegal dividend, or that voted on the record against it, were exempt from liability.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
And yet the risk for corruption or illegal decisions is higher in the new decentralized system than previously.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
And there already are some data suggesting that current seat-of-the-pants strategies for managing illegal residents are more costly than standard but unreimbursed treatment would be.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
In the parallel illegal system, money was exchanged for public contracts.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
It argues that distinct categories such as global/local, legal/illegal and traditional/ modern have lost much of their explanatory power.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Headmen harboured them; village watchmen shared their illegal spoil.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
This opposition had var ious expressions: indirect or legal and direct or illegal.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of illegal
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of illegal?
 

Translations of illegal

in Chinese (Traditional)
非法的，違法的, 非法（在其他國家生活或工作）居民…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
非法的，违法的, 非法（在其他国家生活或工作）居民…
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in Spanish
ilegal, ilícito, ilegal [masculine-feminine]…
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in Portuguese
ilegal, estrangeiro em situação ilegal, estrangeira em situação ilegal…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Russian
in Telugu
in Arabic
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
बेकायदेशीर…
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違法の, 違法（いほう）な…
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yasadışı, kanuna/yasalara aykırı, kanuna aykırı…
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illégal/-ale, illégal…
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il·legal, il·lícit…
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onwettig…
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சட்டத்தால் அனுமதிக்கப்படவில்லை…
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गैर कानूनी…
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ગેરકાયદે, ગેરકાનૂની, કાયદા-વિરુદ્ધ…
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ulovlig, strafbar, illegal…
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illegal, olaglig…
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tidak sah…
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ungesetzlich…
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ulovlig, illegal, lovstridig…
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غیر قانونی, خلافِ قانون…
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незаконний, нелегальний…
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незаконный…
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చట్ట విరుద్ధం…
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غَيْر قَانُوني…
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অবৈধ…
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zakázaný…
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hukum…
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ผิดกฎหมาย…
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bất hợp pháp…
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nielegalny…
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불법의…
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illegale…
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illegal
illegal alien
illegal formation
illegal immigrant
illegal shift

Word of the Day

gold leaf

UK
/ˌɡəʊld ˈliːf/
US
/ˌɡoʊld ˈliːf/

gold in the form of very thin sheets, often used to cover objects, such as decorative details in a building

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