Outlawed

How to spell outlawed

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce outlawed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does outlawed mean?

1. verbMade illegal or banned an activity, substance, or practice; or formally declared someone an outlaw.

Outlawed in a sentence

• Parliament outlawed smoking in all enclosed workplaces years ago.

• The town council outlawed parking on the narrow market street.

Where does outlawed come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

This is the past tense of 'outlaw', a verb that began life as a noun rooted in Old Norse. Scandinavian settlers brought the word utlagi, meaning a person placed 'out of the law', someone formally stripped of legal protection so that anyone could harm them without penalty. The 'law' element itself comes from the Old Norse lagu, meaning literally 'something laid down', and it is from this Norse word, not a native Old English term, that English took its modern 'law'. By the late Middle Ages 'outlaw' had become a verb meaning to banish a person from legal protection, and by the nineteenth century it had broadened to mean banning a practice or activity altogether. The spelling stays transparent once you see the two plain pieces, 'out' and 'law', joined before the ordinary '-ed' ending.

How the word is built

• out- (outside, beyond)
• law (from Old Norse lagu: something laid down)
• -ed (past tense suffix)