illegal
Syllables: il·le·gal/ɪˈliːɡəl/US/ɪˈli.ɡəl/
illegal adjective: contrary to, forbidden, or not authorized by law, especially criminal law. Also the ellipsis of illegal immigrant.
Adjective
illegal (comparative more illegal or (nonstandard or informal) illegaler, superlative most illegal or (nonstandard or informal) illegalest)
- Contrary to, forbidden, or not authorized by law, especially criminal law.
- This is illegal, you know!
- Nearly 40 million people live in UK areas with illegal air pollution
- Synonyms:
- criminal, felonious, illicit, irregular, crimeful, illegitimate, lawbreaking, nonlawful, outlawed, unlawful
- Forbidden by established rules.
- Moving a pawn backward is an illegal move in chess.
- The computer program performed an illegal operation and was terminated.
- Synonyms:
- banned, disallowed, forbidden, impermissible, illicit, interdicted, nonallowed, nonlicet, prohibited, proscribed
- Totally fictitious, and often issued on behalf of a non-existent territory or country.
- Synonyms:
- bogus
- Being or doing something illegally.
- illegal immigrant
- illegal logger
- Being an illegal immigrant; residing in a country illegally.
- Synonyms:
- undocumented
Noun
illegal (plural illegals)
- An illegal act or technique.
- That whatſoever illegals hath been uſed againſt his friends and ſubjects, by impriſoning them without law, or impoſing fines upon their eſtates, be diſclaimed, and that perſons ſo committed be forthwith diſcharged.c. 1650, John Spalding, The History of the Troubles and Memorable Transactions in Scotland, from the Year 1624 to 1645, volume II, Aberdeen: T. Evans, published 1792, pages 72–73
- Contraband, esp. illegal substances such as drugs.
- …I've got illegals in my bottom…!2004, “Reapercussions”, in Dead Like Me, season 1, episode 4, spoken by Mason (Callum Blue)
- “Here’s what I could do,” Eve supposed. “I could slap your head against that wall, while I’m kicking your balls into your belly,” she added to the companion. “And after that, I can have you in restraints while I turn out your pockets. You’re carrying illegals.2008, J. D. Robb [pseudonym; Nora Roberts], Strangers in Death, Penguin, →ISBN
- A spy operating abroad illegally and under non-official cover, without visible ties to his or her country’s authorities.
- Anna Chapman, whose glamorous appearance won her more publicity in the Western media than all the other illegals combined, was so successfully deceived by a US sting operation that she handed over her SVR laptop to an FBI agent posing as a Russian.2012, Christopher Andrew, ‘Colder War’, Literary Review, number 399
- Traditionally, illegals have been extremely hard for counterintelligence agencies to find, but in a world of biometric data, facial recognition software and open source investigation possibilities, it has become harder for Russia to keep its illegals below the radar.2022 August 26, Shaun Walker, “Socialite who charmed Nato staff in Naples was Russian spy, say investigators”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 01 Oct 2022
Also used as
illegal is also the ellipsis of illegal immigrant.
illegal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
illegal in Hindi
- contrary to or forbidden by law
- अवैध avaidh, ग़ैरक़ानूनी ġairqānūnī, ख़िलाफ़क़ानून xilāfqānūn
illegal in Tamil
- சட்டவிரோதமானது, சட்டவிரோதமான, சட்டவிரோதம்
illegal in Marathi
- बेकायदेशीर, अवैध
illegal in Urdu
- contrary to or forbidden by law
- غیرقانونی ġairqānūnī, ناجائز nājaiz
More languagesFewer languages
- illegal in Bengali
- অবৈধ, বেআইনি
- illegal in Telugu
- చట్టవిరుద్ధం, చట్టవ్యతిరేకం
- illegal in Malayalam
- നിയമവിരുദ്ധം, നിയമവിരുദ്ധമായി, നിയമവിരുദ്ധമായ
- illegal in Kannada
- ಕಾನೂನುಬಾಹಿರ, ಕಾನೂನು ಬಾಹಿರ
- illegal in Punjabi
- ਗ਼ੈਰ-ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ, ਗੈਰ ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ, ਗੈਰ-ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ
- illegal in Gujarati
- ગેરકાયદેસર, ગેરકાનૂની
- illegal in Odia
- ବେଆଇନ, ବେଆଇନ୍
- illegal in Assamese
- চোৰাং süraṅ, আইন বিৰোধী ain birüdhi, অবৈধ oboidh, বেআইনী beaini
- illegal in Nepali
- अवैध, गैरकानूनी, गैरकानुनी
- illegal in Arabic
- غَيْر قَانُونِيٍّ ḡayr qānūniyyin
- illegal in Malay
- haram
- illegal in Thai
- ที่ผิดกฎหมาย Thī̀ p̄hid kḍh̄māy
- illegal in Vietnamese
- bất hợp pháp, trái phép
- Sindhi
- غير قانوني ghair qanooni, منع ٿيل mana thiyel, ڳجهو جاسوس gujho jasoos
Examples of illegal in a sentence
- Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, archived from the original on...
- Major parties have long relied on large-scale campaign contributions, and the LDP was only recently mired in an illegal fundraising scandal.2025 July 24, Ned Temko, “In Japan, too, voters want their country to be ‘great again’”, in The Christian Science Monitor, archived from...
- It's illegal to go over 70mph on any British road, so why should drivers have cars that can?2026 February 18, Dickon Ross, “No need for speed”, in RAIL, number 1055, page 3:
Synonyms of illegal
18 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of illegal
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more illegal |
| superlative | most illegal |
| comparative (nonstandard, informal) | illegaler |
| superlative (nonstandard, informal) | illegalest |
| Noun | |
| plural | illegals |
Origin of illegal
Borrowed from French illégal, from Medieval Latin illegalis, from Latin legalis, by surface analysis, il- + legal. In senses relating to immigration, via clipping of illegal alien or illegal immigrant.
Words formed from illegal
Phrases with illegal
Words that rhyme with illegal
Questions about illegal
- What does illegal mean?
- Illegal means contrary to, forbidden, or not authorized by law, especially criminal law.
- What is illegal in Hindi?
- Illegal in Hindi is अवैध (avaidh), ग़ैरक़ानूनी (ġairqānūnī), ख़िलाफ़क़ानून (xilāfqānūn). See Illegal meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use illegal in a sentence?
- Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.
- What part of speech is illegal?
- Illegal can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce illegal?
- Illegal is pronounced /ɪˈliːɡəl/ (UK).
Words near illegal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: illegal (page history and authors); illegal (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); illegal (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); illegal (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); illegal (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); illegal (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); illegal (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); illegal (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); illegal (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); illegal (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); illegal (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-illegal.wav.
Cite this entry: “illegal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/illegal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.