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# lawful

«lawful» in Mova's school dictionary: **allowed by the law, legal** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (lawful)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Lawful means allowed by the law, legal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lawful/#m1)

2) Lawful can also mean obeying the law or right according to rules. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lawful/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In citizenship and social studies lessons, lawful actions follow a country's laws; unlawful ones break them. In stories and games, a lawful character follows rules and respects order. Police must act in a lawful way too. Phrases: lawful owner, lawful right, lawful behaviour, lawful and unlawful.

### examples

- It is lawful to ride a bike on this path. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lawful/#x1)
- The police must use only lawful methods. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lawful/#x2)
- She is the lawful owner of the house. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lawful/#x3)
- Fishing here without a licence is not lawful. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lawful/#x4)
- Citizens have the lawful right to vote. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lawful/#x5)
- In the story, the knight was lawful and fair. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lawful/#x6)
- The first care of Adrastus was to aid Polynices in regaining possession of his lawful share in the government of Thebes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lawful/#x7)

### note

A formal word; «legal» is more common. Opposite: «unlawful» or «illegal». Noun: law. Adverb: lawfully. Laws differ between countries, so something lawful in one country may be unlawful in another.

### In the corpora

- [But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/EZK.407/)
- [And when the wicked turneth from his wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/EZK.867/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «lawful» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/lawful/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.