the principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and applicable to its people, whether in the form of legislation or of custom and policies recognized and enforced by judicial decision.
any written or positive rule or collection of rules prescribed under the authority of the state or nation, as by the people in its constitution.Compare bylaw, statutory law.
the controlling influence of such rules; the condition of society brought about by their observance: maintaining law and order.
a system or collection of such rules.
the department of knowledge concerned with these rules; jurisprudence: to study law.
the body of such rules concerned with a particular subject or derived from a particular source: commercial law.
an act of the supreme legislative body of a state or nation, as distinguished from the constitution.
the principles applied in the courts of common law, as distinguished from equity.
the profession that deals with law and legal procedure: to practice law.
legal action; litigation: to go to law.
a person, group, or agency acting officially to enforce the law: The law arrived at the scene soon after the alarm went off.
any rule or injunction that must be obeyed: Having a nourishing breakfast was an absolute law in our household.
a rule or principle of proper conduct sanctioned by conscience, concepts of natural justice, or the will of a deity: a moral law.
a rule or manner of behavior that is instinctive or spontaneous: the law of self-preservation.
(in philosophy, science, etc.)
a statement of a relation or sequence of phenomena invariable under the same conditions.
a mathematical rule.
a principle based on the predictable consequences of an act, condition, etc.: the law of supply and demand.
a rule, principle, or convention regarded as governing the structure or the relationship of an element in the structure of something, as of a language or work of art: the laws of playwriting; the laws of grammar.
a commandment or a revelation from God.
Sometimes Law . a divinely appointed order or system.
the Law.Law of Moses.
the preceptive part of the Bible, especially of the New Testament, in contradistinction to its promises: the law of Christ.
British Sports. an allowance of time or distance given a quarry or competitor in a race, as the head start given a fox before the hounds are set after it.
verb (used with object)
Chiefly Dialect. to sue or prosecute.
British. (formerly) to expeditate (an animal).
Idioms for law
be a law to / unto oneself, to follow one's own inclinations, rules of behavior, etc.; act independently or unconventionally, especially without regard for established mores.
lay down the law,
to state one's views authoritatively.
to give a command in an imperious manner: The manager laid down the law to the workers.
take the law into one's own hands, to administer justice as one sees fit without recourse to the usual law enforcement or legal processes: The townspeople took the law into their own hands before the sheriff took action.
Origin of law
1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English law(e), lagh(e), Old English lagu, from unattested Old Norse lagu, early plural of lag “layer, stratum, a laying in order, fixed tune, (in collective sense) law”; akin to lay1, lie2
synonym study for law
See theory.
OTHER WORDS FROM law
lawlike,adjective
WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH law
law , hypothesis, theory (see synonym study at theory)
Words nearby law
Lavinia, lavish, Lavoisier, Lavoisier, Antoine, lavolta, law, law-abiding, law agent, law and order, lawbook, lawbreaker
Definition for law (2 of 5)
law2
[ law ]
/ lɔ /
adjective, adverb, nounObsolete.
low1.
Definition for law (3 of 5)
law3
[ law ]
/ lɔ /
verb (used with or without object), nounObsolete.
low2.
Definition for law (4 of 5)
law4
[ law ]
/ lɔ /
interjectionOlder Use.
(used as an exclamation expressing astonishment.)
Origin of law
4
First recorded in 1580–90; form of lord
Definition for law (5 of 5)
Law
[ law ]
/ lɔ /
noun
Andrew Bon·ar[bon-er], /ˈbɒn ər/, 1858–1923, English statesman, born in Canada: prime minister 1922–23.
John, 1671–1729, Scottish financier.
William, 1686–1761, English clergyman and devotional writer.
In Wisconsin, the Green Party effort to get on the ballot was boosted by help from some Republicans and a prominent law firm that does work for the GOP.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court strikes Green Party presidential ticket from ballot, clearing the way for mail ballots to be sent out|Amy Gardner|September 17, 2020|Washington Post
Most recently, he took a big shot at the traditional legal industry with Atrium, a law firm and legal software startup that raised big rounds of funding before shuttering earlier this year.
With Goat Capital, Justin Kan and Robin Chan want to keep founding alongside the right teams|Eric Eldon|September 17, 2020|TechCrunch
Fischer stressed that these updates, together with Breonna’s Law, are “substantial” and create a new level of scrutiny for obtaining search warrants.
The policing reforms in the Breonna Taylor settlement, explained|Fabiola Cineas|September 17, 2020|Vox
Last October, President Jair Bolsonaro signed a law compelling federal bodies to share most of the data they hold on Brazilian citizens and consolidate it in a vast, centralized database.
Podcast: COVID-19 is helping turn Brazil into a surveillance state|Anthony Green|September 16, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Quinn has worked as an elections official in Virginia with von Spakovsky and has co-taught a law school course with him.
No Democrats Allowed: A Conservative Lawyer Holds Secret Voter Fraud Meetings With State Election Officials|by Mike Spies, Jake Pearson and Jessica Huseman|September 15, 2020|ProPublica
Unless there is a court decision that changes our law, we are OK.
Jeb Bush’s Unseen Anti-Gay Marriage Emails|Jackie Kucinich|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Submission is set in a France seven years from now that is dominated by a Muslim president intent on imposing Islamic law.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
A few days later, Bush replied, “We will uphold the law in Florida.”
Jeb Bush’s Unseen Anti-Gay Marriage Emails|Jackie Kucinich|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
To those who agreed with him, Bush pledged that the law against same-sex marriage would remain intact.
Jeb Bush’s Unseen Anti-Gay Marriage Emails|Jackie Kucinich|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Obviously, the first obligation of all liberal democratic governments is to enforce the rule of law.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Our Duty Is to Keep Charlie Hebdo Alive|Ayaan Hirsi Ali|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
These may be the least in the kingdom of heaven, but by the law of moral equation they can not be excluded.
The Theistic Conception of the World|B. F. (Benjamin Franklin) Cocker
We encounter much difficulty in attempting to reduce these various facts to any rule or law.
The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Volume II (of 2)|Charles Darwin
Inter-marriage had been rendered possible by a change in the law, and social intermixture was going on.
The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind|Herbert George Wells
Religious thought, like all else, is subject to a law of evolution, and therefore passes through regular stages.
Evolution|Joseph Le Conte
But the strong arm of the law was apparently under its pillow in delicious slumber.
Pee-wee Harris on the Trail|Percy Keese Fitzhugh
British Dictionary definitions for law (1 of 4)
law1
/ (lɔː) /
noun
a rule or set of rules, enforceable by the courts, regulating the government of a state, the relationship between the organs of government and the subjects of the state, and the relationship or conduct of subjects towards each other
a rule or body of rules made by the legislatureSee statute law
a rule or body of rules made by a municipal or other authoritySee bylaw
the condition and control enforced by such rules
(in combination)lawcourt
a rule of conducta law of etiquette
one of a set of rules governing a particular field of activitythe laws of tennis
the law
the legal or judicial system
the profession or practice of law
informalthe police or a policeman
a binding force or statementhis word is law
Also called: law of naturea generalization based on a recurring fact or event
the science or knowledge of law; jurisprudence
the principles originating and formerly applied only in courts of common lawCompare equity (def. 3)
a general principle, formula, or rule describing a phenomenon in mathematics, science, philosophy, etcthe laws of thermodynamics
the Law(capital)Judaism
short for Law of Moses
the English term for Torah See also Oral Law, Written Law
a law unto itselfora law unto himselfa person or thing that is outside established laws
go to lawto resort to legal proceedings on some matter
lay down the lawto speak in an authoritative or dogmatic manner
reading the Laworreading of the LawJudaismthat part of the morning service on Sabbaths, festivals, and Mondays and Thursdays during which a passage is read from the Torah scrolls
take the law into one's own handsto ignore or bypass the law when redressing a grievance
Other words from law
Related adjectives: judicial, jural, juridical, legal
Word Origin for law
Old English lagu, from Scandinavian; compare Icelandic lög (pl) things laid down, law
British Dictionary definitions for law (2 of 4)
law2
/ (lɔː) /
noun
Scota hill, esp one rounded in shape
Word Origin for law
Old English hlǣw
British Dictionary definitions for law (3 of 4)
law3
/ (lɔː) /
adjective
a Scot word for low 1
British Dictionary definitions for law (4 of 4)
Law
/ (lɔː) /
noun
Andrew Bonar (ˈbɒnə). 1858–1923, British Conservative statesman, born in Canada; prime minister (1922–23)
Denis. born 1940, Scottish footballer; a striker, he played for Manchester United (1962–73) and Scotland (30 goals in 55 games, 1958–74); European Footballer of the Year (1964)
John. 1671–1729, Scottish financier. He founded the first bank in France (1716) and the Mississippi Scheme for the development of Louisiana (1717), which collapsed due to excessive speculation
Jude . born 1972, British film actor, who starred in The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), Cold Mountain (2003), and Sherlock Holmes (2009)
William. 1686–1761, British Anglican divine, best known for A Serious Call to a Holy and Devout Life (1728)
A statement that describes invariable relationships among phenomena under a specified set of conditions. Boyle's law, for instance, describes what will happen to the volume of an ideal gas if its pressure changes and its temperature remains the same. The conditions under which some physical laws hold are idealized (for example, there are no ideal gases in the real world), thus some physical laws apply universally but only approximately. See Note at hypothesis.