The difference between Illegal and Illicit
When used as nouns, illegal means an illegal act or technique, whereas illicit means a banned or unlawful item.
When used as adjectives, illegal means contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law, whereas illicit means not approved by law, but not invalid.
check bellow for the other definitions of Illegal and Illicit
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Illegal as an adjective:
Contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law.
Examples:
"This is illegal, you know!"
"Nearly 40 million people live in UK areas with illegal air pollution"
"their illegal mining operations in Asia, Africa and elsewhere, are protected by officials and police paid to look the other way – and powerful customers in the construction industry who prefer not to ask too many questions."
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Illegal as an adjective:
Forbidden by established rules.
Examples:
"Moving a pawn backward is an illegal move in chess."
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Illegal as an adjective (philately, of an [[issue]] printed for collectors):
Totally fictitious, and often issued on behalf of a non-existent territory or country.
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Illegal as an adjective (of a person, sometimes, _, offensive):
Being or doing something illegally.
Examples:
"'illegal immigrant; illegal logger; illegal pilot"
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Illegal as an adjective (chiefly, US, sometimes, offensive):
Being an illegal immigrant; residing in a country illegally.
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Illegal as a noun (obsolete):
An illegal act or technique.
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Illegal as a noun (colloquial, plural, as '''''[[illegals]]'''''):
Contraband, esp. illegal substances such as drugs.
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Illegal as a noun (colloquial, offensive):
An illegal immigrant.
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Illegal as a noun (espionage):
A spy working abroad illegally and undercover, without visible ties to his or her country's authorities.
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Illicit as an adjective (legal):
Not approved by law, but not invalid.
Examples:
"The bigamous marriage, while [[illicit]], was not invalid."
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Illicit as an adjective:
Breaking social norms.
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Illicit as an adjective:
Unlawful.
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Illicit as a noun:
A banned or unlawful item.