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Glite Dictionary
uncodified

uncodified

7.1
Not written down or put into an official set of rules
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈkoʊdɪfaɪd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : no codificado
  • The country's laws are mostly uncodified, relying on customs and practices rather than written statutes.

Examples

  • One of the joys of an uncodified constitution is getting to call things like that constitutional documents...

    Blog text (31)

  • The uncodified reserve powers remain with the GG.

    Blog text (31)

  • Religious groups tend to have a normative system in which a comprehensive, but uncodified, set of relatively specific norms governs concrete behavior.

    Academic text (1995)

  • In an uncodified legal system, many rules are based on tradition rather than formal documents.

  • One challenge of an uncodified constitution is that it can lead to ambiguity in interpreting laws.

Synonyms

unstructured
vsuncodified
4 4.4

Not organized in a clear plan or order

focuses on not being organized into a formal code rather than general disorder
unrecorded
vsuncodified
2 3.9

Not written down in official papers

is not placed into a formal code or system
uncoded
vsuncodified
  • Specialized
6.8

Not shown by a sign or word in speech and writing

is about absence from a formal coding system rather than a single code mark

Antonyms

codified
  • Formal
6.7

Laws or rules that the government writes down

How Codified

formalized
  • US
4.7
codified
  • Formal
6.7
uncodified
  • Specialized
7.1
informal
98 3.1

Surface Forms

uncodified positive

Morphology

uncodified = codified (transparent) = un + codify + ed

The adjective is formed by adding the negative prefix 'un-' to 'codified', so its meaning is the straightforward negation of 'codified'.

Etymology

Uncodified is made from un- 'not' plus codify (from code, which originally meant a 'book' or a 'set of rules'). So, uncodified means 'not written down or put into a formal system', which helps explain why uncodified laws or practices are passed on by people rather than in a book.