Meaning & use
licit
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Meaning
adjectivenot comparableformallegal
Allowed by law or by the accepted rules, so that no one can object to it.
Grammar: Usually describes activities or trade, and is rarer than its opposite: licit trade.
Patterns
- licit trade
- licit activity
The company earned its profits through licit trade only.
Buying and selling the antiques was perfectly licit.
Police could not prove that the transfer was anything but licit.
Common combinations
- licit trade
- Licit trade in ivory is tightly controlled.
- licit business
- He ran a licit business as a cover for his other dealings.
- licit activity
- Gambling is a licit activity in some states.
- licit and illicit
- The report covers both licit and illicit markets.
- licit means
- The money was acquired by licit means.
Synonyms and how they differ
- legal
- Legal is the ordinary word and can also mean relating to the law, while licit stresses only that something is permitted.
- lawful
- Lawful is slightly more formal than legal and focuses on following the law, but is commoner than licit.
- legitimate
- Legitimate adds a sense of being fair or properly justified, not just allowed.
- permitted
- Permitted can refer to any rule, including house rules, while licit leans toward law and moral rules.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: licit or elicit? licit or illicit?
licit vs elicit
Elicit is a verb meaning to draw out a response, as in elicit a reply, and is not related to legality.
licit vs illicit
Illicit means forbidden, which is the opposite of licit, and is by far the more common word.
Practice
Which word is the opposite of licit?
Choose one answer.
Illicit means forbidden and is the opposite of licit. Elicit, explicit and implicit look similar but have unrelated meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “licit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.