legal age
7
3.6
- noun
- /ˈliːɡəl eɪdʒ/
:
edad legal
- You must be of legal age to sign this contract.
And this is all before I had legal age to do anything at all.
- And this is all before I had legal age to do anything at all.
Examples
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I gotta verify that you're of legal age to consent to this.
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If you were under legal age, your guardian had to give permission.
Fiction book (2001) -
No, like, OK, no, we're not of legal age to drink.
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My daughter is not of legal age.
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Either make all drugs available to everyone of legal age or remove everything from the market.
Blog text (4) -
Both she and her boyfriend were under the legal age to get married.
Academic text (2006) -
If you are hired, can you provide proof that you are of legal age to be employed?
Academic text (1996) -
Parents or youth of legal age are guaranteed access to records.
Academic text (2000) -
The legal age in California is 18, and we'll split the profits 50-50.
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Second, in Germany, for example, the legal age for drinking and buying beer is 16 years, and buying and consuming spirits are prohibited before age 18.
Academic text (2010)
Synonyms
31
4.0
The age when a person is legally an adult and can manage their own affairs
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the age defined by law when someone is an adult' is directly and compositionally built from 'legal' (pertaining to law) + 'age' (a number of years). This adjective-noun combination follows a transparent, cross-linguistic pattern and would be immediately inferable by a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
The compound legal age comes from the idea that the law sets a clear age when a person becomes legal to do certain things. Think of a door that opens on your birthday: once you reach the legal age, you are 'allowed' to vote, drink, marry, or sign papers, so the phrase means the age the law accepts you as an 'adult'.