legally
/ˈliːɡəli/adverb
legally is spelled L-E-G-A-L-L-Y: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, legally means “As permitted by law; not contrary to law” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in legally?
| Letters | 7: L-E-G-A-L-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 16 times per million words; the 5,025th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is legally?
Legally appears 16 times per million words in written English, the 5,025th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce legally?
- /ˈliːɡəli/
Legally has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-legally.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-legally.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of legally
- more legally comparative
- most legally superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does legally mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
As permitted by law; not contrary to law.
You can legally park in the lot on weekends without paying the fee, they won't ticket you.
- 2
From a legal perspective.
Legally, I think you are covered, but there are angry guys with baseball bats outside.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Legally in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense as permitted by law:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | légalement |
| German | legal |
| Portuguese | legalmente |
| Spanish | legalmente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does legally come from?
From legal + -ly. Piecewise doublet of leally and loyally.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).