noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The state of being legal, or within the law. uncountable

   "The legalness of the act does not change its immorality, only whether you can be arrested for it."

Synonyms

All synonyms

lawfulnesslegality

Antonyms

All antonyms

illegalityillegalnesslawfulnesslawlessness

Example

More examples

"The legalness of the act does not change its immorality, only whether you can be arrested for it."

Etymology

From legal + -ness. Piecewise doublet of lealness and loyalness.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.