Mean
Unlawful
Unlawful adjective - Not conforming to a high moral standard; morally unacceptable.
Usage example: a sympathetic look at the unlawful love between a married physician and an adoring colleague
Mean and unlawful are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Mean" instead an adjective "Unlawful".
Nearby Words: unlawfulness, unlawfully
Both words in one sentence
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The South African legal term of "crimen injuria": what it's intended to mean is "crime of unlawful damage [to dignity]," i.e., criminal racism, but "injuria" is nominative, and "crimen" means "charge," not "crime." Translated faithfully, it could only mean "unlawful damage to a criminal charge."
Source: Canis Latinicus -
It's not actually illegal per se to dress in the enemy's uniform while engaging in espionage or sabotage but it does mean that you are not a soldier in combat, which means you're an unlawful combatant, and the other side can do to you as they wish after they capture you.
Source: Dressing as the Enemy
Cite this Source
Unlawful and Mean. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 27, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/mean/unlawful
Mean & Unlawful. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/mean/unlawful>.
Unlawful or Mean. 2016. Accessed July 27, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/mean/unlawful.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "mean" and "unlawful" have occurred on timeline