Meaning of legal in English

legal
adjective
uk

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
/ˈliː.ɡəl/ us

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
/ˈliː.ɡəl/

legal adjective (LAW)

B2
connected with the law:
legal advice
a legal obligation/requirement
legal status
your legal rights
legal action/proceedings
my legal representatives (= my lawyers)
B2
allowed by the law:
Is abortion legal in your country?
Opposite
illegal
More examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Legal & illegal
See more results »

legal adjective (PAPER)

US
used to refer to a standard size of paper in the US, 8.5 inches by 14 inches:
Your poster should be on letter or legal size paper.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Publishing: paper & stationery
See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Idiom

make legal history
(Definition of legal from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

legal | American Dictionary

legal
adjective [ not gradable ]
us

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
/ˈli·ɡəl/
connected with or allowed by the law:
the legal profession
the legal right to vote

legally

adverb us

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
/ˈli·ɡə·li/
The contract is legally binding.
(Definition of legal from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

legal | Business English

legal
adjective
  LAW
uk

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
/ˈliːɡəl/ us

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
connected with the system of law within a country or area:
The department is seeking legal advice on the permitted development rule.
There isn't a formal legal agreement that binds us together as a company.
a legal battle/dispute Two years of legal battles and delay sent the project's cost spiraling.
legal fees
allowed by law:
The report fails to make a distinction between legal and illegal immigrants.
Regulators are reviewing the purchase to make sure it is legal.
(Definition of legal from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of legal

legal
We want to program a two-person finite game where the players must perform alternate legal moves, until one of them, the loser, cannot move.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Despite all of this ethnolinguistic variety, the legal process of obtaining a protective order operates, for the most part, quite systematically.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Often, the legal system (and/or its functionaries) serves as a barrier to any proper resolution of the questions surrounding the narrative and plot structure.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Thus, it is crucial that the legal and technical communities embark on interdisciplinary research to deal with these issues.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
They accept that legal systems may exist and that, if they do, their content may be wholly determinate.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
This view of marriage has been explored through political, legal, demographic, and more recently symbolic perspectives.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
For example, can the ethic of care be easily incorporated into legislation, or might it ultimately be too discretionary to capture within legal rules?
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The discussion provides a carefully contextualised examination of the reasons for this particular unlikely legal transformation.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
We now present the set of typing rules that define the legal terms of the system, but first we introduce some terminology and notation.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
But let us consider instead the common legal example of a person who wants to be alone on his large estate.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The former hinges on the possibility of software agents being regarded as legal persons in the eyes of the law.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The author discusses practical issues such as legal status, education, training, consent, and non-medical prescribing.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
To be more precise, all those in which the legal facts are determined by law practices. 21.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Uncertainty, linguistic or otherwise, may lead to legal disputes.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The commerce, legal or otherwise, of private individuals was another matter.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of legal
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.

Translations of legal

in Chinese (Traditional)
法律的，法律上的，法律方面的, 合法的，符合法律的, 法律規格紙（在美國使用的一種紙張大小的標準，長14英寸，寬8.5英寸）…
See more
in Chinese (Simplified)
法律的，法律上的，法律方面的, 合法的，符合法律的, 法律规格纸（在美国使用的一种纸张大小的标准，长14英寸，宽8.5英寸）…
See more
in Spanish
jurídico, legal, legal [masculine-feminine…
See more
in Portuguese
legal, jurídico, judiciário…
See more
in more languages
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Arabic
in Czech
in Danish
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Korean
in Ukrainian
in Italian
in Russian
法律の, 合法の…
See more
kanunlarla/yasalarla ilgili, yasal, kanunî…
See more
légal/-ale, juridique, légal…
See more
legal, jurídic…
See more
قانوني…
See more
legální, právnický…
See more
lovlig, retsmæssig, juridisk…
See more
legal, hukum…
See more
ถูกกฎหมาย, เกี่ยวกับกฎหมาย…
See more
thuộc pháp luật, liên quan đến pháp luật…
See more
prawny, legalny…
See more
sah di sisi undang-undang, berkaitan dengan undang-undang…
See more
legal, juristisch…
See more
lovlig, juridisk, rettslig…
See more
법적인, 법적으로 허용되는…
See more
законний, легальний, юридичний…
See more
legale, giuridico…
See more
юридический, законный…
See more
Need a translator?

Get a quick, free translation!

Translator tool
What is the pronunciation of legal?
 

Browse

leg side BETA
leg spin BETA
leg up
legacy
legal
legal action
legal aid
legal asset
legal capacity

Word of the Day

mobile learning

the use of electronic devices such as smart phones, laptop computers, and tablets as teaching devices

About this

Blog

Sobbing or pouring your heart out (‘Heart’ senses and phrases, Part 3)

New Words

superskinny
More new words
has been added to list
To top
Contents
EnglishAmericanBusinessExamplesTranslations
English (UK)   Change
English (UK) English (US) Español Español (Latinoamérica) Русский Português Deutsch Français Italiano 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Polski 한국어 Türkçe 日本語 Tiếng Việt
Follow us
Choose a dictionary
  • Recent and Recommended
  • Definitions
    Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English
    English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
  • Grammar and thesaurus
    Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English
    Grammar Thesaurus
  • Translation
    Click on the arrows to change the translation direction.
    Bilingual Dictionaries
    • English–French French–English
    • English–German German–English
    • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
    • English–Italian Italian–English
    • English–Japanese Japanese–English
    • English–Polish Polish–English
    • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
    • English–Spanish Spanish–English
    Semi-bilingual Dictionaries
    Dutch–English English–Arabic English–Catalan English–Chinese (Simplified) English–Chinese (Traditional) English–Czech English–Danish English–Korean English–Malay English–Norwegian English–Russian English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Vietnamese
  • Dictionary +Plus
    Word Lists
Contents
My word lists

Add legal to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

More
Go to your word lists
Tell us about this example sentence: