Legality

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /liˈɡælɪti/

Definitions

1. The status of conforming to established laws and regulations is referred to as this term, highlighting the validity of agreements and actions under legal scrutiny
2. The quality or condition of being permitted or authorized by law
3. The characteristic of an act or situation being recognized and upheld by the law

Etymology: Legality is a plain formation: the adjective "legal" plus the suffix "-ity", which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality or state. "Legal" itself came into English from Medieval Latin "legalis", built on Latin "lex" (law), and the Latin-derived suffix "-ity" traces back through Old French "-ite" to Latin "-itas". The suffix did real work in English. Middle English adopted "-ite" from Old French, and it settled into the form "-ity" used today, so the same ending appears in words like "ability" and "equality". Its job is always the same: take a description and name the condition of being that thing. Because the base word "legal" is the core of the term, the noun simply names the state of being legal, meaning conformity with the law. Its history is therefore mostly that of its parts rather than a story of its own.

Synonyms: lawfulness, validity, legitimacy, permissibility, authenticity

Antonyms: illegality, unlawfulness, invalidity, impropriety, illegitimacy