lawfully

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English

Etymology

From Middle English lawfully, lawfulliche, lawefulliche; equivalent to lawful +‎ -ly.

Adverb

lawfully (comparative more lawfully, superlative most lawfully)

  1. Conforming to the law; legally.
    • 1781, C. Bathurst, The Modern Part of an Universal History From the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time, volume 12, page 264:
      This grand ceremony was immediately followed by a proclamation expreſsly forbidding the Abyſſine clergy, monks, and prieſts, to perform any prieſtly functions till they were previouſly examined and approved by the patriarch ; there being ſome reaſon to doubt whether they had been lawfully examined.
    • 2009 September 26, The Associated Press, “Kuwaiti Ordered Released From Guantánamo Bay”, in The New York Times:
      He was sent to Guantánamo in 2002, and Judge Kollar-Kotelly found that from the beginning of his stay, “there is no evidence in the record that anyone directed any allegations toward al-Rabiah nor any indication that interrogators believed al-Rabiah had engaged in any conduct that made him lawfully detainable.”

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From laweful +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈlau̯(ə)fuliː/, /ˈlau̯(ə)fuliːtʃ(ə)/

Adverb

lawfully

  1. Lawfully; in a way allowed by the law or legal system.
  2. In a morally or religiously correct or approved way.
  3. In an appropriate, justifiable or warrantable way.
  4. (rare) In a way that remains true to one's superiors.

Descendants

  • English: lawfully

References