How to use legally in a sentence

40 example sentences · adverb

Legally means as permitted by law; not contrary to law. Example: “You can legally park in the lot on weekends without paying the fee, they won't ticket you.”

Examples of legally by meaning

adverbAs permitted by law; not contrary to law.

You can legally park in the lot on weekends without paying the fee, they won't ticket you.

adverbFrom a legal perspective.

Legally, I think you are covered, but there are angry guys with baseball bats outside.
After filing paperwork to change his name, the rapper, born Kanye Omari West, finally got what he asked for, and will be legally known as “Ye.”2021 October 19, Amy Woodyatt, “Forget Kanye West. He’s now officially just Ye”, in CNN

More sentences with legally

At common law a corporation or a trust is legally a person.From the entry person
No sir, your current float is not taken into account, when assets are legally garnished.From the entry float
Though legally single nations, many states comprise several distinct cultural or ethnic groups.From the entry nation
Stalin was not technically or legally the head of state but was practically so.From the entry practically
The effective rate of interest was unconscionable, but not legally usurious.From the entry unconscionable
Legally speaking, such a question could be decided only by the Navajo Nation.From the entry Navajo Nation
You are not legally bound to reply.From the entry bound
We may legally doctor a pet to reduce its libido.From the entry doctor
An absolute monarchy is a monarchy where the monarch is legally the ultimate authority in all temporal matters.From the entry monarchy
This contract is a legally binding agreement.From the entry binding
A sworn statement (i.e., "made under oath)"is legally binding.From the entry binding
This invalid contract cannot be legally enforced.From the entry invalid
A contract is a legally binding agreement.From the entry legally binding
Fully automatic weapons cannot be legally owned by private citizens in the US, except in very special circumstances, as by private security companies.From the entry automatic
No, he can't get a mortgage or sell the house. He's still a minor. For the most part, he can't sign a legally binding contract.From the entry minor
The doctor pronounced them legally dead.From the entry pronounce
On a through-ticket you're legally entitled to later onward travel if a delay means a missed connection, but with separate train-specific tickets the risk is yours.From the entry through-ticket
Its generic name is flying disc, but you may know it better by the proprietary name Frisbee. The generic name frisbee (lowercase) is used informally but not officially or legally.From the entry generic name
As Shaylene was legally considered an adult, the police initially assumed she left voluntarily.2026 August 6, Nicholas Muhoro, “An Ohio Teen Vanished During a One-Mile Drive in 1994. Her Locked Car Was Found Hours Later”, in Skip…. From the entry voluntarily
If a company takes data from proprietary technology, the practice may be legally problematic.2025 January 29, Cade Metz, “OpenAI Says DeepSeek May Have Improperly Harvested Its Data”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry distillation
Many disabled people are legally paid cents on the dollar, those who get hired at all.2022 January 16, Alison Stine, “Frank deserves better than "Station Eleven." So do disabled stories”, in Salon. From the entry cents on the dollar
My bank accounts were still under my old name, which legally no longer existed.2017 September 13, Chelsea Manning, “Chelsea Manning: The Dystopia We Signed Up for”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York…. From the entry the computer says no
However, a single trash pull is rarely sufficient to justify a legally valid search warrant.2012, Christine Hess Orthmann, Kären M. Hess, Criminal Investigation, page 113. From the entry trash pull
Legally, however, a will could be revoked at any time during the testator's life.2012, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, Keys to Galatians: Collected Essays, page 108. From the entry disinheritable
Gleefully and legally intruding upon the sanctum of the wealthy linksters, we walked the mitigation meadows.2010, Robert Michael Pyle, chapter 18, in Mariposa Road, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, page 158. From the entry wealthy
Another important difference: e-bikes can legally travel in the bike lane; scooters and mopeds cannot.2010, David L. Kurtz, Contemporary Marketing 2011, page 377. From the entry e-bike
If content filtering is legally enforced, censoring GNUnet is possible at a very large scale.2003, Dennis Kügler, “An Analysis of GNUnet”, in Privacy Enhancing Technologies: Third International Workshop, edited by Roger Dingledine…. From the entry rubber-hose cryptanalysis
If they are legally nettable, then the second trade significantly reduces potential exposure.2003, Peter Field, Modern risk management: a history, page 208. From the entry nettable
I am an Amerasian, why am I not allowed to stay here legally?1995, Steven DeBonis, Children of the enemy: oral histories of Vietnamese Amerasians and their mothers, McFarland, page 125. From the entry Amerasian
I'm talking about a sporty boat that can be legally trailered.1990 July, Joe Skorupa, “Pocket Cruisers”, in Popular Mechanics, page 50. From the entry miniyacht
In essence the officer acted as defending counsel, although little is heard of legally qualified officers appearing.1990, Julian Putkowski, Julian Sykes, Shot at Dawn. From the entry prisoner's friend
Does it take the absence of a legally established optometry to foster the rise of an optology?1982, Journal of the American Optometric Association, page 525. From the entry optology
Marijuana and related cannabislike drugs are often legally grouped with narcotics, but they are actually mild hallucinogens.1970, Wesley C. Westman, The drug epidemic: what it means and how to combat it. From the entry cannabislike
As journalist Brad Polumbo pointed out, Kirk previously wrote on X: "Hate speech does not exist legally in America.2025 September 16, Robby Soave, “Pam Bondi Is Really Wrong About Hate Speech”, in Reason. From the entry brad
Efforts to restitute Ethiopian artifacts listed for auction in various countries will involve legally halting them from sale, he added.2025 August 24, “Ethiopian Heritage Authority Intensifies Push to Restitute Looted Artifacts”, in ENA Reliable News Source, Ethiopian News…. From the entry restitute
To much fanfare, Slowjamastanis may now legally own miniature giraffes and pygmy elephants, provided they obtain an exotic pet license.2024 November 6, Harvey Schmidlap, “BREAKING: The Sultan Wins Big in Slowjamastan Blowout Election…”, in Republic of Slowjamastan…. From the entry Slowjamastani
Taiwan blue magpie, which is legally protected but raised by nobody in Taiwan, appears in Sinyi District, Taipei.[2022, “Unicorn and Taiwan Blue Magpie”, in Law Office of Eric Chung, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2023. From the entry Xinyi

Meaning of legally

adverb As permitted by law; not contrary to law.
adverb From a legal perspective.

Full definition of legally

Questions about legally in a sentence

How do you use legally in a sentence?: Legally is used as an adverb. For example: “You can legally park in the lot on weekends without paying the fee, they won't ticket you.”
What is a short sentence with legally?: “The doctor pronounced them legally dead.”
What does legally mean?: Legally means as permitted by law; not contrary to law.

Adapted from Wiktionary: legally (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use legally in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/legally. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.