outlaw
part of speech
noun (an outlaw, outlaws); verb (outlaw, outlaws, outlawed, outlawing)
meaning for a pupil
1) A person who has broken the law and is running away from it, especially in old stories. tree →
2) (verb) To make something against the law; to ban it. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories and history an outlaw lives outside the law, like Robin Hood or the bandits of the Wild West. In everyday news, a government may outlaw something dangerous or unfair. Phrases: an outlaw band, outlaw a practice, be outlawed.
examples
- Robin Hood was an outlaw who lived in Sherwood Forest. tree →
- The sheriff chased the outlaws across the desert. tree →
- Many countries have outlawed child labour. tree →
- Smoking is outlawed inside restaurants here. tree →
- The outlaw hid in the hills with stolen gold. tree →
- The school outlawed phones in class. tree →
- There were nearly a hundred of these outlaws, and their leader was a bold fellow called Robin Hood. tree →
note
As a verb it means ban, not «become an outlaw». Past form outlawed. The noun stresses OUT-law. Outlaws in stories can be heroes or villains.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «outlaw» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.