英和和英

形容詞

law-abiding (comparative more law-abiding, superlative most law-abiding)

1. Obeying the laws of society; not a lawbreaker; without a criminal record.

   The law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear from government surveillance... unless the government begins to break the law.

   • 1959 September, N. Caplan, “Not Transferable”, in Railway Magazine, page 646:

     Most people take the imprint "Not Transferable" for granted when buying railway tickets, and are sufficiently law-abiding not to think of transferring a return half to a relation or friend.

   • 1980, Robert Dougall, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 379:

     In all smuggling places ghost stories abound. Can it be that they were invented to keep law-abiding folk behind closed doors at night, when the deeds were being done?

   • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     “For any decent, law-abiding citizen, there is no honour in this. None at all. You are a bad man, Mr Goodie. And, worst of all, a bad dad. A very bad dad.” That hit Gilbert like a ton of bricks. He looked over to his son with tears in his eyes, as the judge announced the sentence. “Gilbert Goodie, I sentence you to ten years in prison!”