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law-abiding

law-abiding

63 3.4
Following the law and not breaking rules
  • adjective
  • /lɔː əˈbaɪdɪŋ/
translation icon : respetuoso de la ley
  • Laws are for law-abiding citizens.
  • a law-abiding citizen
  • law-abiding people
  • a law-abiding adult

And I mean an armed law abiding citizen.

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Examples

  • I've been a law-abiding citizen my whole life.

  • But I'm a law-abiding man.

  • And yeah, he was law abiding, never even had a parking ticket.

  • This is a law-abiding town.

  • The police ought to be a law-abiding model for common people.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • And people who would consider themselves to be decent, law abiding people are going to vote for him.

  • My experience, that is, as a property owner and a law-abiding citizen.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Clearly, we share the State's interest in the law-abiding and self-sufficient qualities of our fellow citizens.

    Academic text (1996)
  • The end result was that residents of Gagarin were quiet, law-abiding, and suspicious.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • He has been a law-abiding citizen for over twenty years, always following the rules.

Synonyms

observant
vslaw-abiding
8 4.8

Careful to follow laws, rules, and customs

focuses on obeying formal legal rules rather than customs

Antonyms

2.1

A person who has committed a crime or broken the law

4 3.7

Doing things that are illegal

How Law-Abiding

upright
15 4.0
law-abiding
63 3.4
respectable
114 3.0
lawless
29 4.9

Surface Forms

law-abiding positive

Morphology

law-abiding = law + abiding (transparent) = law + abide + ing

Built as a straightforward compound of 'law' + 'abiding' (with 'abiding' = 'abide' + -ing), so learners who know the parts can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Law-abiding is made from law and abide, and abide as in the phrase 'abide by' means 'to follow' or 'to accept'. So a law-abiding person is someone who 'follows the law' and does not break it.