as in legislator
a member of an organized body of persons having the authority to make laws
political activists strenuously lobbied the state's lawgivers to expand the scope of the civil rights legislation
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Recent Examples of lawgiver
Centuries earlier, the ancient lawgiver Solon had sought to curb pleonexia by legislating against luxury and economic inequality.
—
David Lay Williams, TIME, 2 Oct. 2024
The oil painted portraits of past judges and four marble figures, all historically significant lawgivers, loomed overhead, mounted on the walls of the courtroom.
—Ella Lee, USA TODAY, 25 May 2023
Time and again, in unilaterally decreeing sweeping legislative policies such as student-loan forgiveness, an eviction moratorium, and a national vaccine mandate, Biden has acted as if the president is a national lawgiver with general police powers.
—The Editors, National Review, 25 Apr. 2023
Thus, the biblical lawgiver made sure that no Jew would ever get a perfect 10 in the test of the commandments.
—Joseph Berger, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2023
Scholars have noted an innovation that occurred in the laws in the Bible: There is no king who acts as the lawgiver.
—Samuel L. Boyd, The Conversation, 10 Mar. 2022
In other words, a Spartan way of life that gradually took shape was retroactively attributed to a single lawgiver, whose name gave it an almost divine authority.
—Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, 7 June 2021
David Lay Williams, TIME, 2 Oct. 2024
The oil painted portraits of past judges and four marble figures, all historically significant lawgivers, loomed overhead, mounted on the walls of the courtroom.
—Ella Lee, USA TODAY, 25 May 2023
Time and again, in unilaterally decreeing sweeping legislative policies such as student-loan forgiveness, an eviction moratorium, and a national vaccine mandate, Biden has acted as if the president is a national lawgiver with general police powers.
—The Editors, National Review, 25 Apr. 2023
Thus, the biblical lawgiver made sure that no Jew would ever get a perfect 10 in the test of the commandments.
—Joseph Berger, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2023
Scholars have noted an innovation that occurred in the laws in the Bible: There is no king who acts as the lawgiver.
—Samuel L. Boyd, The Conversation, 10 Mar. 2022
In other words, a Spartan way of life that gradually took shape was retroactively attributed to a single lawgiver, whose name gave it an almost divine authority.
—Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, 7 June 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lawgiver
legislator
Noun
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Walz and Democratic-Farmer-Labor legislators are calling for new policies including a state ban on semiautomatic assault-style weapons like the AR-15, which was used in the Annunciation shooting.—
Alex Derosier,
Twin Cities,
20 Sep. 2025
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Washington legislators and intelligence agencies have cited fears that TikTok's recommendation algorithm and data access could enable covert manipulation or espionage by China's government—a claim fiercely denied by ByteDance and Beijing.—
Hollie Silverman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Lawgiver.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lawgiver. Accessed 22 Sep. 2025.
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