semilegal
7.3
Not fully allowed by law but not clearly illegal
- adjective
- /ˌsɛmɪˈliːgəl/
:
semilegal
- Save for short periods of semilegal political opposition during elections, organized opposition was illegal.
Examples
-
Residencias, the periodic reviews of outgoing corregidores and their bureaucracy by a successor, revealed numerous illegal and semilegal economic ventures.
Academic text (2000) -
Many businesses engage in semilegal activities to avoid strict regulations.
-
Guiding the twins in their successful semilegal careers had kept Angelina and me pretty busy.
Fiction book (1993) -
The group operated in a semilegal manner, often skirting the edges of the law.
-
His semilegal practices drew the attention of the authorities, who were investigating potential violations.
Synonyms
8.0
Too small or too few to meet the minimum required by law
is partly lawful or only partially authorized instead of simply failing standards
Antonyms
How Legal
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Semilegal combines semi- 'half' and legal 'lawful'. Think of semi- like in semicircle, meaning 'half', so semilegal describes something only partly allowed by law.