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law-abiding
adjective
law-abid·ing
ˈlȯ-ə-ˌbī-diŋ
: abiding by or obedient to the law
law-abiding citizens
law-abidingness
noun
Synonyms
Examples of law-abiding in a Sentence
the law-abiding citizens of the neighborhood did everything they could to help reduce street crime
Recent Examples on the Web
Enormous resources are available, thanks to the aggressor’s overconfidence in leaving hundreds of billions of dollars and euros in law-abiding states.
—Philip Zelikow, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2023
Where is the consideration for these law-abiding residents?
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 7 Apr. 2024
Crooked Joe has a 40-year record of trying to rip firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.
—Adriana Gomez, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 May 2024
This particular group of officers had been regularly inflicting unspeakable abuse on law-abiding citizens for many years.
—Jason Flom, Rolling Stone, 6 May 2024
Protestors have infringed on and threatened law-abiding students’ rights to safety—basic rights that Columbia president Minouche Shafik and all university leaders are duty-bound to provide.
—Gil Mandelzis, Fortune, 4 May 2024
The syndrome explains why its leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, ignored indications that as California emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, its law-abiding residents were becoming increasingly worried about crime.
—Dan Walters, The Mercury News, 23 Apr. 2024
Putting criminals away to keep them from terrorizing law-abiding citizens and preventing inmates from engaging in criminal activity from prison are critical to addressing the region’s violent crime epidemic, and therefore giving people freedom to go about their lives without fear of victimization.
—Gustavo Flores-Macías, Foreign Affairs, 20 Mar. 2024
Despite the decades of bad press and costly litigation that ensued, pyramid schemes—or, to be precise, the ostensibly law-abiding companies that happen to be dead ringers for pyramid schemes—appear to be an immovable pillar of the American economy.
—Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'law-abiding.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1834, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near law-abiding
Cite this Entry
“Law-abiding.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/law-abiding. Accessed 18 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
law-abiding
adjective
law-abid·ing
ˈlȯ-ə-ˌbīd-iŋ
: obedient to the law
Legal Definition
law-abiding
adjective
law-abid·ing
ˈlȯ-ə-ˈbī-diŋ
: abiding by or obedient to the law
law-abidingness
noun
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