lawful
adjectivenounattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈlɔːfl̩//
- United States//ˈlɔfl̩//
- United States//ˈlɑfl̩//
- Australia//ˈloːfl̩//
- Scotland//ˈlɔfl̩//
Conforming to, or recognised by the laws of society.
adjective
- 1
Conforming to, or recognised by the laws of society.
Lawful money is always a land asset and can only be issued by an actual land jurisdiction government — not a corporation.
The laws are controversial. Forcing someone to work during a lawful strike is a major step. It was always likely to inflame a situation, and so it proved with LNER. ASLEF's counter-tactic came as a five-day walkout, which would have been the longest stoppage for many years had LNER not withdrawn its plan.
[Pete] Hegseth demanded full and unrestricted access to all Anthropic’s AI models for every lawful purpose.
- 2
Operating according to some law or fundamental principle.
Or would they have it believed, that there is in their ſelves ſome ſuperior ſanctity, ſome peculiar privilege, by which theſe things are lawful to them, which are unlawful to all the world beſides?
[…] so that the person's actions are merely the inevitable product of lawful causes stemming from prior events […]
- 3
Of a character: having an alignment which makes them tend to follow the laws and conventions of society.
Etymology
From Middle English laweful, equivalent to law + -ful, conflated with Middle English leful, leeful, leveful (“according to law, lawful, pertaining to law”). See also leveful.
noun
- 1
A character having a lawful alignment.
Forms
- plural
- lawfuls
- comparative
- more lawful
- superlative
- most lawful
lawful · Conforming to, or recognised by the laws of society.
lawfully · Conforming to the law; legally.lawn · Ground (generally in front of or around a house) covered with…Lawn · A town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.