illicitly
Americanadverb
-
in a way that is not legally permitted or authorized; unlawfully.
She estimates that more than one-third of all software installed on personal computers is obtained illicitly.
-
in a way that is disapproved of or not permitted for moral or ethical reasons.
In divorce proceedings, “corespondent” means the person that one of the partners has been illicitly sleeping with.
Etymology
Origin of illicitly
First recorded in 1660–70; illicit ( def. ) + -ly ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Blanche said the agency would instead target only the terrorists and drug traffickers who illicitly used crypto, not the platforms that hosted them.
From Salon • Jan. 24, 2026
According to separate legal complaints brought by Illinois and Missouri regulators, Gentile and Schneider illicitly collected more than $40 million from GPB’s operations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025
The Windsor Framework aims to radically simplify the original proposal while also including measures which give the EU assurance that goods will not illicitly enter its market.
From BBC • Aug. 24, 2024
Little represents an employee at the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority who discovered the illicitly modified standpipe in 2015.
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2024
He was a born anatomist and so devoted to his studies that he sometimes illicitly borrowed limbs, organs, and other parts from cadavers and took them home for leisurely dissection.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
