legal

Borrowed from Latin lēgālis (“legal”), from lēx (“law”). Doublet of loyal and leal.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈliː.ɡəl/
• Rhymes: -iːɡəl
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈliɡəl/

• Audio (US)

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legal (comparative more legal, superlative most legal)

1. Relating to the law or to lawyers.
   • 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:

     According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.

   legal profession

2. Having its basis in the law.

   legal precedent

3. Being established, permitted, required or prescribed by law.
   • 2013 August 23, “Waking life”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8850:

     After 50 years, legal segregation is a distant memory, and race in America is not the unbridgeable chasm it once was. The country has a black president. The sort of comity that King evoked, in which the descendants of slaves and of slave owners “sit down together at the table of brotherhood”, can be found in many places, including the Deep South. The rate of marriage between blacks and whites is rising.

   legal motion

4. Following the rules or syntax of a system, such as a game or a programming language.

   If you have no legal move, but are not in check the game is a draw.

   • 2021, John V. Guttag, Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python, Third Edition, page 7:

     Programming languages are designed so that each legal program has exactly one meaning

5. (informal) Above the age of consent or the legal drinking age.
   • 2012 September 18, Sandra Brown, Low Pressure, Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN:

     "Is she even legal? Shame on you, diddlin' a girl too young to buy beer. You being a church deacon and all." If looks could kill, Dale would be dead.

   • 2024 April 18, Ayin Quijano, Bottoms Up, Boracay (Season 2 Amihan), Ayin Quijano:

     "Is she even legal? She looks like a minor." Elias whispers back, "Of course. I checked her passport. She's 20. What do you take me for? Be nice. I like her." I immediately smile at the girl behind Elias, […]

6. Permitting the use and/or sale of cannabis; in which cannabis is lawful.
   • 2016 January 30, Jasper Stohner, 101 Money Making Methods in the Marijuana Madness Movement of 2016, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 45:

     Whether you're interested in opening a retail marijuana store in a legal state or if you're interested in investing in someone or a company, which is operating in a legal state, there are […]

   • 2019 September 13, Tracy Ferrell, Migrating for Medical Marijuana: Pioneers in a New Frontier of Treatment, McFarland, →ISBN, page 160:

     [Because] marijuana is still a federally illegal drug, using the drug in a child's presence, even in a legal state, could thus be construed as child abuse.

7. (US, Canada) (of paper or document layouts) Measuring 8½ in × 14 in (215.9 mm × 355.6 mm) (also legal-size).

• (antonym(s) of “allowed”): banned, contraband, disallowed, forbidden, illegal, outlawed, unlawful
• (antonym(s) of “concerning law”): black-market, back-alley
• (antonym(s) of “over age of consent”): underage

• (law): equitable

legal (countable and uncountable, plural legals)

1. (uncountable, informal) The legal department of a company.

   Legal wants this in writing.

2. (uncountable, US, Canada) Paper in sheets 8½ in × 14 in (215.9 mm × 355.6 mm).
3. (countable) A spy who is attached to, and ostensibly employed by, an embassy, military outpost, etc.
4. (countable, informal, US) Somebody who immigrated lawfully.

   Antonyms: illegal, undocumented

• legal-size

• Galle, egall

Borrowed from Latin lēgālis. Compare the inherited doublet lleial.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ləˈɣal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [leˈɣal]

• Audio

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legal m or f (masculine and feminine plural legals)

1. legal

   Antonym: il·legal

• legalitzar
• legalment

• legalitat
• llei
• lleial

• “legal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “legal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “legal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “legal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Inherited from Spanish legal.

legál

1. legal

Borrowed from Latin lēgālis (“legal”), from lēx (“law”).

• IPA^(key): /leɡaːl/, [leˈɡ̊æːˀl]

legal

1. legal (something that conforms to or is according to law)
2. legitimate (conforming to accepted rules)

• (legal): lovlig
• (legitimate): legitim

• (antonym(s) of “legal”): illegal

Learned borrowing from Latin lēgālis. Compare leal.

• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: le‧gal

legal m or f (plural legais)

1. legal (having its basis in the law)

   Antonym: ilegal

• legalmente

• lícito

Borrowed from Latin lēgālis (“legal”), from lēx (“law”).

• IPA^(key): [leːˈɡaːl]

• Audio

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• Rhymes: -aːl

legal (strong nominative masculine singular legaler, not comparable)

1. legal

   Antonym: illegal

• “legal” in Duden online
• “legal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Dutch legaal (“legal”), from French légal, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of loyal.

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛɡal]
• Hyphenation: lè‧gal

legal

1. legal, allowed or prescribed by law.

• “legal” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Borrowed from Latin lēgālis (“legal”), from lēx (“law”). Compare leal, an inherited doublet.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: le‧gal

legal m or f (plural legais, comparable, comparative mais legal, superlative o mais legal or legalíssimo)

1. legal

   Synonym: lícito

   Antonym: ilegal

2. (Brazil, familiar) cool, nice, good

   Synonym: fixe

   Antonym: chato

For quotations using this term, see Citations:legal.

• legalmente
• legalzão

• ilegal
• legalidade

Borrowed from French légal, Latin legalis. By surface analysis, lege +‎ -al. Doublet of loial.

• IPA^(key): /leˈɡal/

• Audio

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legal m or n (feminine singular legală, masculine plural legali, feminine and neuter plural legale)

1. legal, lawful

   Synonym: licit

   Antonyms: ilegal, ilicit

• legalitate
• legitim

Borrowed from Latin lēgālis, from lēx (“law”). Compare leal, an inherited doublet.

• IPA^(key): /leˈɡal/ [leˈɣ̞al]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: le‧gal

legal m or f (masculine and feminine plural legales)

1. legal, statutory

   Antonym: ilegal

2. lawful
3. (colloquial) legit

• “legal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Borrowed from Latin legalis.

legal (not comparable)

1. legal

• illegal
• legalitet
• legitim

Borrowed from Spanish legal.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /leˈɡal/ [lɛˈɣal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: le‧gal

legál (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜒᜄᜎ᜔)

1. legal

• legalidad
• legalisa
• legalisado

Borrowed from French légal, from Latin lēgālis.

• IPA^(key): /leˈɡɑl/

legal

1. legal (being allowed or prescribed by law)

   Synonym: yasal

   Antonyms: illegal, yasa dışı