plural laws
1
a(1)
: a binding custom or practice of a community : a rule of conduct or action prescribed (see prescribe sense 1a) or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority
(2)
: the whole body of such customs, practices, or rules
The courts exist to uphold, interpret, and apply the law.
(3)
b(1)
: the control brought about by the existence or enforcement of such law
The Indian government is believed to have detained thousands of other people last year … . The government said the move, decried by critics as draconian, was necessary to maintain law and public order in the region.—BBC.com
see also law and order
(2)
: the action of laws considered as a means of redressing wrongs
also
: litigation
developed the habit of going to law over the slightest provocation —H. A. Overstreet
(3)
: the agency of or an agent of established law
When he saw that the fighting was escalating, he called in the law.
c
: a rule or order that it is advisable or obligatory to observe
a law of self-preservation
d
: something compatible with or enforceable by established law
The decrees were judged not to be law and were therefore rescinded.
2
a
often capitalized
: the revelation of the will of God set forth in the Old Testament
b
capitalized
: the first part of the Jewish scriptures : pentateuch, torah see Bible Table
3
: a rule of construction or procedure
the laws of poetry
4
: the whole body of laws relating to one subject
criminal law
probate law
5
a
: the legal profession
studied for a career in law
b
: law as a department of knowledge : jurisprudence
c
: legal knowledge
a man with much history but little law
6
a
: a statement of an order or relation of phenomena that so far as is known is invariable under the given conditions
a law of thermodynamics
Boyle's law
b
: a general relation proved or assumed to hold between mathematical or logical expressions
lawed; lawing; laws
chiefly dialectal
: to sue or prosecute at law
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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