SINCE 1828
legal age
nounDefinition of legal age
: the age at which a person enters into full adult legal rights and responsibilities (as of making contracts or wills)
Examples of legal age in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
That law raised the legal age to own a long gun to 21 years old, compounding on a previous law that limited the sale of handguns to those 21 and over. — Vandana Ravikumar, USA TODAY, "Gun advocacy groups sue California over new law that bans firearms sales to 'law-abiding adults' under 21," 3 July 2019 Vermont is also raising the legal age to buy tobacco or e-cigarettes from 18 to 21. — BostonGlobe.com, "Vermont tax in e-cigarettes tax effect," 2 July 2019 Although some of the scholarships are limited to students 18 and older — the nation's legal age to buy vaping products — many are open to younger teens or have no age limit. — Collin Binkley, chicagotribune.com, "Vaping essays: E-cigarette sellers offering scholarships," 8 June 2018 The first raises the legal age for purchasing and using cigarettes, e-cigarettes and tobacco products to 21 from 18. — Megan Cerullo, CBS News, "Vermont imposes 92% tax on e-cigarettes," 1 July 2019 States and cities across the United States have already moved to ban flavored e-cigarettes and raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco products to 21, but San Francisco’s new approach is the most far-reaching yet. — Reuters, The Mercury News, "San Francisco is first US city to ban sale of e-cigarettes," 25 June 2019 Anti-tobacco advocates say the research raises questions over recent efforts to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco to 21, most recently championed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. — Arman Azad, CNN, "Half of tobacco and vape shops don't ID teens, undercover research finds," 24 June 2019 Last year, council members faced pushback from local conservatives over an ordinance that raised the legal age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21. — Gilbert Garcia, ExpressNews.com, "Legislative session provided San Antonio some big wins," 7 June 2019 Philippine strongman Rodrigo Duterte is widening his crackdown on drugs and crime by lowering the country’s legal age of responsibility, a move opponents say risks sweeping children up as criminals in violence that has killed thousands. — Jake Maxwell Watts, WSJ, "Duterte’s Brutal Crime War Turns Toward Children," 29 Jan. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'legal age.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for legal age
legal age
noun
le·gal age
| \ ˈlē-gəl-
\
\
Medical Definition of legal age
: the age at which a person enters into full adult legal rights and responsibilities (as of making contracts or wills)
legal age
nounLegal Definition of legal age
: an age at which a person becomes entitled under the law to engage in a particular activity or becomes responsible for particular acts
the legal age for drinking in this state
broadly
: age of majority — compare age of consent, emancipate
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