You are supposed to obey the law.
Source: tatoeba (8249)
Law
/lɔː/
Synonyms for "law" (265 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (53)
Noun(17 words)
codejurisprudenceordinanceregulationrulestatuteactact againstbody of lawcanonconservation of angular momentumconstabularyconstitutionconventioncorpuscrowd control statutedecree
Adjective(2 words)
colonial government actcommercial code
Strong matches (80)
decree-lawdecreementdecretaldecretumdenialdickdictatedictationdictumdiktatdisallowancedogberrydrag into courtedictedictumeighteenth amendmentembargoenactmentexclusionexigency
Show 39 more words
fiatflatfootflattieforbiddanceforbidden fruitforbiddingforensic psychiatryformformalityformulaformularyfundamentalgendarmegeneral principlego into litigationgo to lawgolden ruleguidelineguiding principlegumshoeimperativeimpleadindexindex expurgatoriusindex librorum prohibitoruminhibitioninjunctioninstituteinstitutioninterdictinterdictioninterdictumipse dixitjohn lawjurisprudencejusjusticelaw of naturelegal chemistry
Noun(16 words)
Verb(1 words)
enact laws
Adjective(4 words)
fundamental physical lawlaglike swedishlegal disciplinelegal measure
Related words (132)
legal medicinelegal sciencelegislationlexlitigatemandatemaximmeasuremedical jurisprudencemedico-legal medicinemitzvahmoralnecessityno nono-nonomographynormnormaorder of natureordinance
Show 66 more words
ordonnancepeelerpigpostulatepreceptpreclusionprescribed formprescriptprescriptionpreventionprincipiumprincipleproclamationprocrustean lawprohibitionprohibition partyprohibitory injunctionpronouncementpronunciamentopropositionproscriptionprosecuteprosecute at lawput in suitput on trialrefusalregulationrejectionrepressionrescriptrestrictive covenantsrubricrulerulingruling outseek in lawseek justiceself-evident truthsenatus consultsenatus consultumset formsettled principleshamusstandardstanding orderstatutesuesumptuary lawssuppressiontabootake to courttenetthe copsthe fuzzthe lawtheoremtruismtruthukaseuniversal lawuniversal truthvolstead actworking principleworking rulezoningzoning laws
Noun(30 words)
legal philosophylegal regulationlegislationmandatemaximmitsvahnatural lawold norse lagold norse lögorderorder maintaining lawsordinancespandectphysics concepts principlepolicepolice forcepractice of lawprescriptionprinciple of gravityprinciples
Show 10 more words
prohibitionprohibition policyriksdag actsales tax statutestandardstate ordinancestate statutestatutory rulestatutory-ruletenet
Adjective(12 words)
legal rulelegal textmathematical propertyromanian actscientific physical lawscientific principlestatutory mandateswedish lag lawswedish legislativeswedish statuteuniversalwritten statutes
Adverb(1 words)
more swedish lag
Determiner(3 words)
most written lawthe lawsthe principles
Choosing the right synonym
- Closest matches in this entry: code, jurisprudence, ordinance, regulation, rule.
- Sentence evidence is available for law, so synonym choice can be checked against real usage rather than a flat word list.
- Ranking signals come from wiktionary, opengloss, wordnet, moby, and related lexical sources.
Synonym selection checklist
- Match the part of speech before comparing meanings.
- Check whether the synonym changes intensity, formality, or emotional tone.
- Read the replacement inside the full sentence, not just beside "law".
- Prefer the clearest word over the most unusual word when writing for speed or comprehension.
When not to replace "law"
Keep "law" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.
If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.
Replacement workflow
1. Preserve meaning
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "law" intact in the sentence you are editing.
2. Tune tone
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
3. Re-read context
Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.
Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.
Final fit check
After choosing a replacement for "law", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.
If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "law" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
21 entriesaccumulationaggregationassemblagecollectionconceptconceptionconstructforceinstitutioninstrumentlaw enforcement agencylearned professionlegal documentlegal instrumentlegal systemofficial document
Showing 16 of 21 words.
More specific
8 entriesCollocations
5 entriescivil lawcommon lawcriminal lawcustomary lawwritten law
Inflections
1 entriesDerivations
7 entriesTranslations
167 translations across 117 languages.
Abkhaz
1 entries- азакуан noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Afrikaans
1 entries- wet noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Albanian
1 entries- ligj noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Ambonese Malay
1 entries- wet noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Amharic
1 entries- ሕግ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Ancient Greek
1 entries- νόμος noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Arabic
3 entries- شَرِيعَة noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- قَانُون noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- نَامُوس noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Armenian
1 entries- օրենք noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Aromanian
1 entries- nom noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Asturian
1 entries- llei noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Atong (India)
1 entries- niam noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Azerbaijani
1 entries- hüquq noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Basque
1 entries- lege noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Bengali
1 entries- আইন noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Bulgarian
1 entries- зако́н noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Burmese
2 entries- တရား noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- ဥပဒေ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Buryat
1 entries- хуули noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Catalan
2 entries- dret noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- llei noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Cebuano
1 entries- balaod noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Central Kurdish
1 entries- یاسا noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Chechen
2 entries- бакъо noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- ӏедал noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Cherokee
1 entries- ᏗᎧᏃᏩᏛᏍᏗ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Chinese
1 entries- 法律 noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Chinese Cantonese
1 entries- 法律 noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Chinese Mandarin
1 entries- 法律 noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Czech
2 entries- právo noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- zákon noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Danish
2 entries- lov noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- ret noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Dari
1 entries- قَانُون noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Dutch
2 entries- recht noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- wet noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Erzya
2 entries- витьчи noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- права noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Esperanto
1 entries- leĝaro noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Estonian
1 entries- õigus noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Ewe
1 entries- se noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Extremaduran
2 entries- derechu noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- lei noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Finnish
2 entries- lainsäädäntö noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- laki noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
French
2 entries- droit noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- loi noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Galician
1 entries- lei noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Georgian
1 entries- სამართალი noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
German
2 entries- Gesetz noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- Recht noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Gothic
1 entries- 𐍅𐌹𐍄𐍉𐌸 noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Greek
2 entries- δίκαιο noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- νόμος noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Haitian Creole
1 entries- lwa noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Hawaiian
1 entries- kānāwai noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Hebrew
2 entries- חוק \ חֹק noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- מִשְׁפָּט noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Hindi
3 entries- क़ानून noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- नियम noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- विधान noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Hungarian
1 entries- jog noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Icelandic
1 entries- lög noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Indonesian
1 entries- hukum noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Ingrian
1 entries- oikehus noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Interlingua
1 entries- lege noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Iranian Persian
1 entries- قانون noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Irish
1 entries- dlí noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Italian
1 entries- legge noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Japanese
1 entries- 法律 noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Kannada
1 entries- ಕಾನೂನು noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Kazakh
2 entries- заң noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- құқық noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Khmer
1 entries- ច្បាប់ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Korean
1 entries- 법률 noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Kyrgyz
1 entries- кай noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Lao
1 entries- ກົດໝາຍ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Latin
1 entries- iūra noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Latvian
1 entries- tiesības noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Lithuanian
1 entries- teisė noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Lombard
1 entries- leg noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Lower Sorbian
1 entries- pšawo noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Lutuv
1 entries- phungbie noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Luxembourgish
1 entries- Droit noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Lü
1 entries- ᦀᦱᧆᦍᦱ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Malagasy
1 entries- lalana noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Malay
1 entries- undang-undang noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Malayalam
1 entries- നിയമം noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Maltese
1 entries- liġi noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Manchu
1 entries- ᡶᠠᡶᡠᠨ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Middle English
1 entries- lawe noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Mongolian
2 entries- хууль noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- ᠬᠠᠤᠯᠢ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Nepali
3 entries- कानून noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- नियम noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- विधान noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Northern Kurdish
3 entries- qanûn noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- yasa noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- zagon noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Norwegian Bokmål
2 entries- lag noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- lov noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Occitan
2 entries- drech noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- lei noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Old English
2 entries- dōm noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- ǣ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Oromo
1 entries- seera noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Palauan
1 entries- llach noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Polish
1 entries- prawo noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Portuguese
2 entries- direito noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- lei noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Quechua
1 entries- kamachiy noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Romanian
2 entries- drept noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- lege noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Russian
2 entries- зако́н noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- пра́во noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Serbo-Croatian
4 entries- právo noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- prȁvilo noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- zákon noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- за́кон noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Shan
1 entries- မၢႆမီႈ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Sicilian
3 entries- dirittu noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- jussu noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- liggi noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Sidamo
1 entries- higge noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Slovak
2 entries- právo noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- zákon noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Slovene
2 entries- pravo noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- zakon noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Somali
2 entries- sharci noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- xeer noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Spanish
2 entries- derecho noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- ley noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Swahili
1 entries- sheria noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Swedish
2 entries- lag noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- rätt noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Tagalog
2 entries- batas noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- dalubbatasan noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Tai Dam
2 entries- ꪩꪺꪒ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- ꪶꪀꪒꪢꪱꪥ noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Tajik
1 entries- қонун noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Tamil
1 entries- சட்டம் noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Telugu
2 entries- చట్టము noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- న్యాయశాస్త్రము noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Thai
1 entries- กฎหมาย noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Tocharian B
1 entries- pele noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Tok Pisin
1 entries- lo noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Turkish
4 entries- hukuk noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- kanun noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- tüze noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- yasa noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Urdu
1 entries- قانُون noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Uyghur
1 entries- ھوقۇق noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Uzbek
1 entries- huquq noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Venetan
1 entries- lège noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Vietnamese
2 entries- luật noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- pháp luật noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Volapük
2 entries- lon noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- lonem noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Walloon
1 entries- lwè noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Welsh
1 entries- cyfraith noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
White Hmong
1 entries- cai noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Yakut
1 entries- сокуон noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Zazaki
2 entries- huquq noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
- soret noun (body of rules established in a community by its authorities)
Sample sentences
69 total sentences available.
Hunger knows no law.
Source: tatoeba (20078)
We are bound to obey the law.
Source: tatoeba (22665)
We had to obey the foreign law.
Source: tatoeba (23069)
Showing 4 of 69 available sentences.
Common questions
What are the closest synonyms for "law"?
Closest matches include code, jurisprudence, ordinance, regulation, rule.
How should I check whether a synonym fits "law"?
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.