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illicit

adj
/ɪˈlɪsɪt/

Etymology

Borrowed from French illicite, from Latin illicitus, from in- (“not”) + licitus (“allowed, permitted”), from licet (“it is allowed”). By surface analysis, il- + licit.

  1. derived from illicitus
  2. borrowed from illicite

Definitions

  1. Not approved by law, but not invalid.

    • The bigamous marriage, while illicit, was not invalid.
    • Such migrants may violate our laws against illicit entry, but if that's all they do then they are trespassers, not criminals.

  2. Breaking social norms.

    • I only can properly enjoy carol services if I am having an illicit affair with someone in the congregation.

  3. Unlawful.

    • Ayşe Erkoç learned long ago that the secret of doing anything illicit in Istanbul is to do it in full public gaze in the clear light of day. No one ever questions the legitimacy of the blatant.
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. A banned or unlawful item.

      • A large number of studies, however, have reported that it is rare for the user of 'hard' drugs not to have initiated cannabis use prior to the other illicits.

The neighborhood

Derived

illicitly, illicitness

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at illicit. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01illicit02unlawful03prohibited04forbidden05forbid06proscribe07prohibit

A definitional loop anchored at illicit. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at illicit

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA