What's the difference between illegal and preposterous?

Illegal


Definition:

  • (a.) Not according to, or authorized by, law; specif., contrary to, or in violation of, human law; unlawful; illicit; hence, immoral; as, an illegal act; illegal trade; illegal love.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A former Labour minister, Nicholas Brown, said the public were frightened they "were going to be spied on" and that "illegally obtained" information would find its way to the public domain.
  • (2) Chapman and the other "illegals" – sleeper agents without diplomatic cover – seem to have done little to harm American national security.
  • (3) The New York Times also alleged that the Met had not passed full details about how many people were victims of the illegal practice to the CPS because it has a history of cooperation with News International titles.
  • (4) Chadwick felt that Customs and Trading Standards needed to continue their war on illegal tobacco – if not, efforts to tackle smoking could be undermined.
  • (5) Gibbs was sent off in the first half at Stamford Bridge for handball, despite replays clearly showing it was his team-mate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who illegally deflected an Eden Hazard shot.
  • (6) While circulating the quarries is illegal – you risk a fine of up to €60 – neither the IGC nor the police seem to mind the veteran cataphiles who possess a good knowledge of the underground space, and who respect their heritage.
  • (7) A fortnight ago the two countries signed a US$27 million deal to tackle deforestation on the island of Sumatra - a key problem in Indonesia where 80 per cent of emissions come from deforestation, both by legal and illegal loggers.
  • (8) The campaign has used mobile billboards warning illegal immigrants to "go home or face arrest".
  • (9) Time suggests that the FBI inquiry has been extended from a relatively narrow look at alleged malpractices by News Corp in America into a more general inquiry into whether the company used possibly illegal strongarm tactics to browbeat rival firms, following allegations of computer hacking made by retail advertising company Floorgraphics.
  • (10) The announcement comes amid mounting frustration in the international community over Israel’s continued settlement activity, regarded by many countries as illegal.
  • (11) Trump might claim that the loss of manufacturing jobs or the influx of illegal immigrants from Mexico is a national security crisis that justifies his invocation of this law, and imposition of the tariff.
  • (12) Galli said there were already about 200,000 hospitalisations of women who have undergone a clandestine termination every year, and a suspected 1 million illegal abortions before the epidemic.
  • (13) The immigration minister, Mark Harper, said: in a statement: "Today's operations highlight the routine work we are carrying out every day to stamp out illegal working.
  • (14) While his citizens were being beaten and tormented in illegal detention, spokesmen for the then prime minister, Tony Blair, declared: "The Italian police had a difficult job to do.
  • (15) Euthanasia – killing someone painlessly, usually to relieve suffering – is also illegal.
  • (16) But illegal action will only ruin any chance of dialogue with Tehran.
  • (17) After five days watching birds illegally shot down and becoming embroiled in tense stand-offs with the police and hunters, Packham was summoned to a police station and interviewed for five hours.
  • (18) "The government will ban qat so that we can protect vulnerable members of our communities and send a clear message to our international partners and qat smugglers that the UK is serious about stopping the illegal trafficking of qat."
  • (19) Last week, Theresa May announced that, as part of her immigration bill , private landlords will be required, under the threat of a £3,000 fine, to ensure that "illegal immigrants" are not given access to their properties.
  • (20) Lieberman said: "[Amazon's] decision to cut off WikiLeaks now is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies WikiLeaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material.

Preposterous


Definition:

  • (a.) Having that first which ought to be last; inverted in order.
  • (a.) Contrary to nature or reason; not adapted to the end; utterly and glaringly foolish; unreasonably absurd; perverted.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Reading these latest statistics, it’s crucial that our generation – millennials, Gen Y, whatever we want to call ourselves – abandons this preposterous narrative.
  • (2) You could understand why the Met was frantic to find who had stabbed Rachel Nickell 49 times on Wimbledon Common while her screaming child looked on, but the case against Stagg was preposterous.
  • (3) Preposterous claims by ministers that cutting tax credits means “cultural change” for people already in work show how far this is from being the “workers’ party”.
  • (4) The league looks more preposterous still, however, if you simply ignore Muresul Deva for a moment.
  • (5) China's foreign ministry called the allegations preposterous and accused the US of double standards.
  • (6) So I said: "Isn't it preposterous that you're so cheap?"
  • (7) Most preposterous has been the British prime minister David Cameron lecturing Greeks on their responsibilities from outside the eurozone .
  • (8) This is why, preposterously, America is able to confirm plans to send four shiny F-16 fighter jets to Egyptian military on Thursday, while still talking democracy and inclusion for Egypt's transitional process.
  • (9) "It is perplexing and preposterous to hear human rights complaints from the US, where torture and kidnapping are legal in the 21st century."
  • (10) But the State Department's indignation over the leaks of allegedly valuable secrets was, and remains, preposterous.
  • (11) There's the pot that presidential hopefuls admit to having smoked in a youthful-experiment-type way, and there's the pot criminals currently serving life sentences under preposterous three strikes legislation were caught with.
  • (12) In common usage, “myth” is at best the word we use to refer to amusingly preposterous urban legends – tales about albino alligators in the Manhattan sewers or the Holy Grail’s hiding place under the floor of a Paris shopping mall.
  • (13) What happens, we’ve seen as a case study, is what happened in Greece.” He added: “I think she was suggesting if Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party got the chance to impose its fiscal policies on the United Kingdom that is a very real threat.” A spokesman for Corbyn described the claims as “preposterous”.
  • (14) The notion that it might start with another body on another beach seemed preposterous if not a little cheapening of what went before.
  • (15) That the LMA has sought to criticise the club for the timing of the report to the FA is preposterous, because the offensive communications have been in the knowledge and possession of the LMA for many months.
  • (16) Miliband, as I observed some time ago in a piece for ConservativeHome , should have dismissed as a preposterous anachronism the Tory attack on the trade union link.
  • (17) A nurse who faces being struck off over a botched Ebola screening at Heathrow airport has said it is “preposterous” that she would have concealed knowledge that Pauline Cafferkey was unwell.
  • (18) The size of the hole that Iran is in,” Szubin said, “we’re talking about a hole that could be described in one sense as a $200bn hole, which are the losses that we assess they’ve suffered since 2012 due to sanctions.” However the representatives had little patience for many of Blinken’s arguments, with Democrat Brad Sherman saying it was “preposterous” to believe Iran would adhere to a deal.
  • (19) Barroso's comments provoked a furious response from senior SNP figures, who said his views were "pretty preposterous" and based on a false comparison.
  • (20) Taking aim at a "preposterously over-regulated system," Johnson also claims that "bureaucracy and politial correctness is gradually asphyxiating the BBC".