Word.ws English Dictionary

inlaw

/ɪnˈlɔː/

inlaw verb: to clear of outlawry or attainder, to return to the protection of the law. Also the alternative form of in-law.

Verb

inlaw (third-person singular simple present inlaws, present participle inlawing, simple past and past participle inlawed)

  1. (UK, historical, transitive) To clear of outlawry or attainder, to return to the protection of the law
    • The king, indignant that an attempt should be made to exempt the vast ecclesiastical lands from taxation at a time of national crisis, sequestrated the estates of the see of Canterbury, and copied John’s conduct in 1208 by outlawing the whole body of the clergy. Winchelsea in return excommunicated...1911, Charles William Chadwick Oman, "English History", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. IX, p. 497

Noun

IPA/ˈɪnlɔː/

inlaw (plural inlaws)

  1. One who is within the domain or protection of the law.
    Antonyms:
    outlaw

Also used as

inlaw is also the alternative form of in-law.

Antonyms of inlaw

Forms of inlaw

Verb
third-person singular presentinlaws
present participleinlawing
past participleinlawed
pastinlawed
Noun
pluralinlaws

Origin of inlaw

From Middle English inlawen, inlaghen, from Old English inlagian, ġeinlagian (“to restore to the protection of the law, inlaw”), equivalent to in- + law.

From Middle English inlaghe, inlage, from the verb (see above).

See in-law.

Words that rhyme with inlaw

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about inlaw

What does inlaw mean?
Inlaw means to clear of outlawry or attainder, to return to the protection of the law.
What part of speech is inlaw?
Inlaw can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce inlaw?
Inlaw is pronounced /ɪnˈlɔː/.
What is the past tense of inlaw?
The past tense of inlaw is inlawed.

Words near inlaw in the dictionary

  1. inlargement
  2. inlarges
  3. inlarging
  4. inlaut
  5. inlauts
  6. inlaw
  7. inlawed
  8. inlawing
  9. inlawry
  10. inlaws
  11. inlay

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: inlaw (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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