as in criminality
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Recent Examples of illegality
While lower prices are welcome news for consumers, cannabis businesses have had difficulty making money due to high financing and operating costs, and an inability to take normal business tax deductions due to the drug’s illegality under federal law.
—
Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 16 Feb. 2026
Speaking out in that way is not illegality.
—ABC News, 18 Jan. 2026
Many of the administration’s actions rely on broad claims of illegality without providing specific violations.
—Spencer Overton, The Conversation, 16 Jan. 2026
My uncles and cousins, all city or federal police officers, did not use political party affiliation as a basis for determining legality versus illegality.
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 13 Jan. 2026
So do expressions of concern and declarations of illegality by democratic countries.
—Richard Fontaine, The Atlantic, 4 Jan. 2026
These works, among others, challenge visitors to consider how LA and São Paulo have criminalized their most vulnerable citizens but also demonstrate how Brazil’s discourse on social rights and illegality is unique.
—Michaëla De Lacaze Mohrmann, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
Other clients retained attorneys and accountants, and those professionals also warned of the tax shelter's illegality.
—Logan Smith, CBS News, 28 Dec. 2025
But most personnel already understand the duty to disobey obvious illegality—and reminding them of it nudges more of them toward lawful behavior when the stakes are at their most extreme.
—Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025
Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 16 Feb. 2026
Speaking out in that way is not illegality.
—ABC News, 18 Jan. 2026
Many of the administration’s actions rely on broad claims of illegality without providing specific violations.
—Spencer Overton, The Conversation, 16 Jan. 2026
My uncles and cousins, all city or federal police officers, did not use political party affiliation as a basis for determining legality versus illegality.
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 13 Jan. 2026
So do expressions of concern and declarations of illegality by democratic countries.
—Richard Fontaine, The Atlantic, 4 Jan. 2026
These works, among others, challenge visitors to consider how LA and São Paulo have criminalized their most vulnerable citizens but also demonstrate how Brazil’s discourse on social rights and illegality is unique.
—Michaëla De Lacaze Mohrmann, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
Other clients retained attorneys and accountants, and those professionals also warned of the tax shelter's illegality.
—Logan Smith, CBS News, 28 Dec. 2025
But most personnel already understand the duty to disobey obvious illegality—and reminding them of it nudges more of them toward lawful behavior when the stakes are at their most extreme.
—Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for illegality
Noun
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DeMore also talked about his experience in juvenile court and his understanding of brain development’s impact on criminality.—
Colleen Cronin,
Boston Herald,
22 Apr. 2026
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Thus, Ahmed’s Hamlet discovers not just his father’s murder and betrayal but also the criminality on which his family’s entire wealth has been built.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
14 Apr. 2026
Noun
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But in a court-martial, a service member who argues that an order is unlawful has the burden of proving its unlawfulness.—
Joshua Kastenberg,
The Conversation,
16 Dec. 2025
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Many people at Harvard and elsewhere feared that the university would reach a deal with the Administration before Judge Burroughs’s decision, because that would have meant that no court would declare the unlawfulness of the Administration’s actions toward academic institutions.—
Jeannie Suk Gersen,
New Yorker,
6 Sep. 2025
Noun
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But whether a potential second film would try to acknowledge the abuse allegations against Jackson, including those at the center of a 2005 trial that ended in his acquittal on all counts, is unclear.—
Brendan Morrow,
USA Today,
26 Apr. 2026
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Anyone with information on this case or other animal abuse cases is urged to contact the PSPCA's Cruelty Hotline at (866) 601-SPCA.—
Alexandra Simon,
CBS News,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The move comes after the spring-break-reminiscent event has been marred by tragedy and lawlessness in previous years.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
27 Apr. 2026
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By three o’clock, our lawlessness had caught up with us; the line of students was long and our supplies were low.—
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh,
New Yorker,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Years later, drawn into a covert network of operatives and manipulated through a web of corruption, Clay must decide whether to become the weapon he was shaped to be or dismantle the system from within.—
Alex Ritman,
Variety,
28 Apr. 2026
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He was also charged in another foreign corruption case in the same court in late 2024.—
Jay Weaver,
Miami Herald,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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This kind of depravity, licentiousness and polemical theatrics has no place on such a traditional and once wholesome presentation of the coming of a new year in our great nation and especially on the eve of the 250th anniversary of the greatest experiment in democracy and freedom in history.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
4 Jan. 2026
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This kind of depravity, licentiousness and polemical theatrics has no place on such a traditional and once-wholesome presentation of the coming of a new year, especially on the eve of the 250th anniversary of the greatest experiment in democracy and freedom in history.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
3 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Following this tendency might finally cure us not only of indigestion but also the ancient immorality of eating other organisms.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
22 Apr. 2026
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Consider this evilmeister’s brazen acts of treason and revenge, unbounded deceit, swinish immorality and negative role modeling.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
5 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Illegality.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/illegality. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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