Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Unconstitutional \Un*con`sti*tu"tion*al\, a.
Not constitutional; not according to, or consistent with, the
terms of a constitution of government; contrary to the
constitution; as, an unconstitutional law, or act of an
officer.
--Burke. -- Un*con`sti*tu"tion*al"i*ty, n. --
Un*con`sti*tu"tion*al-ly, adv.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1734, from un- (1) "not" + constitutional (adj.). Related: Unconstitutionally.
Wiktionary
a. Contrary to or violative of the constitution of a government or other institution.
WordNet
adj. not consistent with or according to a constitution; contrary to the U.S. Constitution [ant: constitutional]
Usage examples of "unconstitutional".
All this is left out of his history, and in nowise alluded to by him, so far as I can remember, save once, when he makes a remark, that upon his principle the Supreme Court were authorized to pronounce a decision that the act called the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.
Compensation laws applicable to maritime cases were held unconstitutional.
State nor an individual citizen is entitled to a remedy in the courts against an unconstitutional appropriation of national funds.
At this period, indeed, political associations had acquired considerable strength and consistency, and their danger was increased by the new and unconstitutional measure of appointing delegates to transact their business in the capital, and to promote the objects of their petitions.
Court banned, as unconstitutional, only school-sponsored and school-organized readings of the Bible in which all students must participate.
He wanted to see all legislation that banned the teaching of evolution declared unconstitutional.
Accordingly, laws passed to carry into effect treaties granting extraterritorial rights were not rendered unconstitutional by the fact that they did not secure to an accused the right to trial by jury.
Congress which prescribed as a qualification for practice before the federal courts an oath that the attorney had not participated in the Rebellion was found unconstitutional since it operated as a punishment for past acts.
According to Cornell law professor Gary Simson, sex education courses that teach abstinence until marriage are unconstitutional because they violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
And, while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed, than to violate any of them, trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional.
Hence an act granting a right of appeal from the Commission to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is not unconstitutional as conferring executive power upon a judicial body.
State nor an individual citizen is entitled to a remedy in the courts against an unconstitutional appropriation of national funds.
March and April, 1952, comparable results were reached: The Internal Security Act of 1950, section 23, in authorizing the Attorney General to hold in custody, without bail, aliens who are members of the Communist Party of the United States, pending determination as to their deportability, is not unconstitutional.
A property tax levied on warehouse receipts for whiskey exported to Germany was held unconstitutional as a tax on exports.
However, a South Carolina statute which sought to make mental anguish caused by the negligent nondelivery of a telegram a cause of action, was held to be, as applied to messages transmitted from one State to another or to the District of Columbia, an unconstitutional attempt to regulate interstate commerce.