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Showing results for illicitly. Search instead for illicitl.
Definitions

illicitly

[ih-lis-it-lee] / ɪˈlɪs ɪt li /
ADVERB
under the counter
Synonyms
Antonyms


ADVERB
unlawfully
Synonyms
Antonyms


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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The method is widely used across the industry, but US officials say Chinese firms have deployed it at scale to illicitly copy proprietary American systems.

From Barron's Jul. 22, 2026

Since February, Anthropic has accused Alibaba and several other Chinese AI labs of illicitly distilling its models-the practice of training a new model on the outputs of another.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 8, 2026

Anthropic's letter, dated 10 June and addressed to US Senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, accused New York Stock Exchange-listed Alibaba of carrying out "the largest campaign to illicitly extract Claude's capabilities".

From BBC Jun. 25, 2026

Blanche said the agency would instead target only the terrorists and drug traffickers who illicitly used crypto, not the platforms that hosted them.

From Salon Jan. 24, 2026

He was a born anatomist and so devoted to his studies that he sometimes illicitly borrowed limbs, organs, and other parts from cadavers and took them home for leisurely dissection.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson




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