law-abiding
"law-abiding" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“law-abiding” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Obeying the laws of society; not a lawbreaker; without a criminal record.
Corpus desk
Index EN-law-abiding · law-abiding · English
law-abiding · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | law-abiding |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “law-abiding” in English
Rare enough to double-check
law-abiding is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Obeying the laws of society; not a lawbreaker; without a criminal record.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for law-abiding, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is law-abiding, spelled L-A-W---A-B-I-D-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Obeying the laws of society; not a lawbreaker; without a criminal record.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how law-abiding appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear from government surveillance... unless the government begins to break the law.
Most people take the imprint "Not Transferable" for granted when buying railway tickets, and are sufficiently law-abiding not to think of transferring a return half to a relation or friend.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.