lawbreaker

See also: law-breaker

English

Alternative forms

• law-breaker

Etymology

From Middle English lawbreker, lawe brekare; equivalent to law +‎ breaker.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔːbɹeɪkə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔ.bɹeɪkɚ/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑ.bɹeɪkɚ/

  • Audio (General American, cot–caught merger):

    (file)

Noun

lawbreaker (plural lawbreakers)

1. One who breaks (violates) the law, a criminal.
   • 1979, Monty Python's Life of Brian, spoken by Matthias (John Young):

     I'm just a poor old man. I have no time for law-breakers. My legs are grey. My ears are gnarled. My eyes are old and bent.

   • 2007 November 28, Nick Kolich, “Speedboarders fly down hills”, in The Beacon‎^[1]:

     People often assume that speedboarders are disrespectful lawbreakers.

   • 2017 February 18, John Schwartz, “Tax Advice From Lawmakers Turned Lawbreakers”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     Mr. Grimm pleaded guilty to a single count of tax fraud and was convicted in July 2015; he went on to serve eight months in prison. Lawmaker, law enforcer and lawbreaker — that’s a heck of a résumé, and alliterative, too!

Translations

person who breaks the law

• Bulgarian: закононаруши́тел m (zakononarušítel)
• Estonian: seaduserikkuja
• Finnish: lainrikkoja (fi)
• French: hors-la-loi (fr) m, criminel (fr) m
• Hungarian: törvényszegő (hu)
• Latin: lēgirupa m
• Malayalam: നിയമലംഘകൻ m (niyamalaṅghakaṉ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lovbryter m

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: прѣстѫпьникъ m (prěstǫpĭnikŭ), законопрѣстѫпьникъ m (zakonoprěstǫpĭnikŭ)

• Persian: خاطی (fa) (xâti), قانون‌شکن (qânun-šekan)
• Polish: przestępca (pl) m, przestępczyni (pl) f
• Russian: правонаруши́тель (ru) m (pravonarušítelʹ), правонаруши́тельница (ru) f (pravonarušítelʹnica), престу́пник (ru) m (prestúpnik), престу́пница (ru) f (prestúpnica)
• Ukrainian: правопору́шник (uk) m (pravoporúšnyk), правопору́шниця (uk) f (pravoporúšnycja), злочи́нець m (zločýnecʹ), злочи́нниця f (zločýnnycja), пору́шник зако́ну m (porúšnyk zakónu), пору́шниця зако́ну f (porúšnycja zakónu)

Anagrams

• bear walker