Word.ws English Dictionary

illegalism

UK/ɪˈliːɡəlɪz(ə)m/

illegalism noun: illegal activity, especially seen as systemic or as part of a general philosophy or ideology.

Noun

illegalism (countable and uncountable, plural illegalisms)

  1. Illegal activity, especially seen as systemic or as part of a general philosophy or ideology.
    • Sprinzak argued that the rule of law has never been fully institutionalized in Israel and that illegalism is a basic characteristic of political culture.1989, Brenda Danet, Pulling Strings, page 116
    • Even where illegalism was the norm, he stood out, his career littered with examples of extortion, bribery and intimidation.2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 267

Forms of illegalism

pluralillegalisms

Origin of illegalism

From illegal + -ism.

Questions about illegalism

What does illegalism mean?
Illegalism means illegal activity, especially seen as systemic or as part of a general philosophy or ideology.
What part of speech is illegalism?
Illegalism is a noun.
How do you pronounce illegalism?
Illegalism is pronounced /ɪˈliːɡəlɪz(ə)m/ (UK).
What is the plural of illegalism?
The plural of illegalism is illegalisms.

Words near illegalism in the dictionary

  1. illegalisations
  2. illegalise
  3. illegalised
  4. illegalises
  5. illegalising
  6. illegalism
  7. illegalisms
  8. illegalist
  9. illegalists
  10. illegalities
  11. illegality

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: illegalism (page history and authors). 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.

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