ENGLISH
REFERENCE

legislate

v.
C1 Advanced US //ˈɫɛdʒɪˌsɫeɪt// UK //lˈɛdʒɪslˌeɪt// leg·is·late Academic

v. to make or pass new laws. Governments do this to control how a country or organization works.

v. to exercise the power of making and enacting laws. Intransitive when referring to the general power of a government; transitive when specifying the creation of a particular rule or standard.


SIMPLE

The government plans to legislate against plastic waste.

CONTEXTUAL

Parliament met late into the night to legislate for stricter environmental protections across the manufacturing sector.

COMPLEX

While the executive branch enforces existing rules, only the legislative body has the constitutional authority to legislate on matters of national taxation and public spending.

Synonyms
Origin

Back-formation from legislation, legislator.

Usage

Often used with the preposition 'against' or 'for' to indicate the purpose of the law.

Pitfall

The council legislated a new lawThe council passed a new lawWhile 'legislate' means to make laws, it is rarely used with 'law' as a direct object; one legislates 'on' a topic or 'passes' a law.

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