Word family noun legality ≠ illegality legalization legalese illegal adjective legal ≠ illegal legalistic verb legalize adverb legally ≠ illegally
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlegalityle‧gal‧i‧ty /lɪˈɡæləti/ AWL noun 1 LEGAL[uncountable] the fact of being allowed by lawlegality of Several ministers have questioned the legality of the ban.2 → legalitiesExamples from the Corpus
legality• The Appeal Court judge said that his conviction was of dubious legality.• First, there is the question of legality.• So they have to find their way into the international financial system, where they can be given a veneer of legality.• This was the first of several actions that were of questionable legality, and which eventually led to his resignation.• When politics invades religion, legality becomes merely emblematic.• The union immediately challenged the legality of the decision.• And this, far more than in the past, will determine the legality or illegality of the action.• Before the interventions I was discussing the legality of existing measures and whether that had held up the introduction of traffic-calming measures.• The European Court will decide on the legality of his claim.• Todd said McCray agreed to pay back his bonus to avoid a protracted debate over the legality and propriety of the payment.• The legality of testing employees for drugs is questionable.• The legality of that meeting was later questioned.From Longman Business Dictionarylegalityle‧gal‧i‧ty /lɪˈgæləti/ noun [uncountable]LAW1the fact of being allowed by the lawa judgment ending a lengthy dispute over the legality of Davis’s leases2legalities [plural] the things that you have to do by law before something can happenHe wasn’t one to always let legalities stand in his way. 