against the law

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Not allowed by the rules or laws of a country

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

không được phép bởi quy tắc hoặc luật của một quốc gia

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: opposing the legislation
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English
Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “against the law” mean?

Not allowed by the rules or laws of a country Literally: opposing the legislation

Is “against the law” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.