illicit

not legally permitted; unlicensed; unlawful: Illicit drugs are rampant in the city.

Not to be confused with:

elicit – to draw or bring out; educe; evoke: Your story elicits memories of my childhood.

illicit

not legally permitted or authorized: an illicit attempt to control the market; unlicensed; prohibited; not permitted by custom; disapproved of or not permitted for moral or ethical reasons

Not to be confused with:

illegal – forbidden by law or statute: an illegal U-turn; forbidden by official rules or regulations: an illegal block (in football); something that is unacceptable to or not performed by a computer: an illegal operation

illegitimate – born out of wedlock: an illegitimate child; not sanctioned by law or custom: an illegitimate action; not in proper grammatical usage

unlawful – contrary to law: unlawful search and seizure; born out of wedlock [All of the above describe actions that are not in accord with the law. However, there are some differences in meaning among the words. Illegal refers most specifically to violations of statutes or codified rules: illegal seizure of property. Illegitimate means lacking legal or traditional rights: illegitimate use of privileged information. Illicit most often applies to matters regulated by law with emphasis on the way things are carried out: illicit conversion of property. Unlawful means not sanctioned by law: an unlawful claim to an inheritance.]

il·lic·it

(ĭ-lĭs′ĭt)

adj.

1. Not sanctioned by custom or law; improper or unlawful.

2. Linguistics Improperly formed; ungrammatical.

[Latin illicitus : in-, not; see in-¹ + licitus, lawful; see licit.]

il·lic′it·ly adv.

il·lic′it·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

illicit

(ɪˈlɪsɪt)

adj

1. another word for illegal

2. not allowed or approved by common custom, rule, or standard: illicit sexual relations.

ilˈlicitly adv

ilˈlicitness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

il•lic•it

(ɪˈlɪs ɪt)

adj.

1. not legally permitted; unlawful.

2. disapproved of or not permitted for moral or ethical reasons.

[1645–55; < Latin illicitus]

il•lic′it•ly, adv.

il•lic′it•ness, n.

syn: See illegal.

illicit

Not allowed by law.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	illicit - contrary to accepted morality (especially sexual morality) or convention; "an illicit association with his secretary" licit - sanctioned by custom or morality especially sexual morality; "a wife's licit love"
	2.	illicit - contrary to or forbidden by law; "an illegitimate seizure of power"; "illicit trade"; "an outlaw strike"; "unlawful measures" illegitimate, outlaw, outlawed, unlawful illegal - prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules; "an illegal chess move"

illicit

adjective

1. illegal, criminal, prohibited, unlawful, black-market, illegitimate, off limits, unlicensed, unauthorized, bootleg, contraband, felonious information about the use of illicit drugs
illegal legal, legitimate, lawful, permissible, above-board, licit

2. forbidden, improper, immoral, wrong, guilty, clandestine, furtive He clearly condemns illicit love.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

illicit

adjective

1. Contrary to accepted, especially moral conventions:

unlawful.

2. Prohibited by law:

illegal, illegitimate, lawless, outlawed, unlawful, wrongful.

3. Of, involving, or being a crime:

criminal, illegal, illegitimate, lawless, unlawful, wrongful.

Translations

nedovolený

forbudtulovlig

illegal unerlaubt

αθέμιτος

illégal illicite

óleyfilegur; ólöglegur

illecito abusivo

neatļautsnelikumīgs

urettmessig

nedovolený

yasak

违法的

illicit

[ɪˈlɪsɪt] ADJ → ilícito

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

illicit

[ɪˈlɪsɪt] adj [activity, association] → illicite
the illicit use of state funds → l'utilisation illicite des deniers publics
the use of illicit drugs → la consommation de drogues illicitesill-informed [ˌɪlɪnˈfɔː^rmd] adj

[person] → mal informé(e)
to be ill-informed about sth → être mal informé(e) à propos de qch

[comment, criticism, accusation] → infondé(e); [judgment] → infondé(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

illicit

adj → illegal; affair, relationship → verboten; spirits → schwarz hergestellt or gebrannt; illicit trade or sale → Schwarzhandel m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

illicit

[ɪˈlɪsɪt] adj → illecito/a

illicit

(iˈlisit) adjective

unlawful or not permitted.

ilˈlicitly adverb

ilˈlicitness noun

illicit

adj ilícito

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

I thought that I saw through his eyes a human affair of that most sorrowful sort as it must appear to the Infinite Compassion; the book is a sort of revelation of human nature in circumstances that have been so perpetually lied about that we have almost lost the faculty of perceiving the truth concerning an illicit love.

View in context

As is indeed not unfrequent with women of unimpeachable virtue, weary of the monotony of respectable existence, at a distance she not only excused illicit love, she positively envied it.

View in context

One American they found on the lower reaches of Georgiana who eked an illicit existence by fishing with traps.

View in context

He felt the illicit pleasure of a schoolboy playing truant.

View in context

The last war but between Britain and Spain sprang from the attempts of the British merchants to prosecute an illicit trade with the Spanish main.

View in context

Attempts have been made to pervert this clause into an objection against the Constitution, by representing it on one side as a criminal toleration of an illicit practice, and on another as calculated to prevent voluntary and beneficial emigrations from Europe to America.

View in context

Whether my medical friend's admiration of my satirical sketches led him into talking about them in public with too little reserve; or whether the servants at home found private means of watching me in my moments of Art-study, I know not: but that some one betrayed me, and that the discovery of my illicit manufacture of caricatures was actually communicated even to the grandmotherly head and fount of the family honor, is a most certain and lamentable matter of fact.

View in context

The popular wife of a great actor was discussing her husband's latest play with a Cabinet Minister who had the air of a school-boy present at an illicit feast.

View in context

His certainty that there was some understanding between Denham and Katharine returned, but with a most unpleasant suspicion that there was something illicit about it, as the whole position between the young people seemed to him gravely illicit.

View in context

It seemed an illicit way of arriving at information, and even had a vague analogy with listening at a key-hole.

View in context

The report noted that many countries were failing to recognize the importance of fighting illicit trade.

Technology fuelling illicit trade

According to the Asia Illicit Tobacco Indicator 2017 released by UK-based Oxford Economics last September, the Philippines posted the biggest drop in volume of illicit cigarettes among the 16 Asia-Pacific markets covered by the report.

Consumption of smuggled, fake cigarettes down 52% in '17