To remove legal status from something; to make something no longer legal or lawful.
From 'de-' (reverse, remove) plus 'legalize' (to make legal, from Latin 'legalis'). A modern construction using the productive 'de-' prefix to reverse the meaning of 'legalize.'
This is a modern word created by adding 'de-' to 'legalize'—it appears frequently in discussions about marijuana policy and other substances moving between legal and illegal status in different jurisdictions.
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