After parsing it, the meaning is found to be not legal or not in accordance with the law. To say an activity is illegal is to apply a taboo ; from that point on, it cannot be performed. A situation where this term is frequently violated appears in the workplace. Workplace discrimination laws prohibit inequitable treatment of people based on their race, creed, looks, or any other discriminatory factor (within reason). It is illegal to violate these regulations, but they are frequently broken . For instance, let it be asserted that a hypothetical person by the name of Kim Davis that has committed a case of workplace discrimination by not hiring an African American man based on his race. The fact that Davis committed the crime depicts the deceptive power of words and the law. The law states that a transgressor will be punished , but in the specific case of this law transgressors are not always penalized . The infrequency of penalty is a main driver behind why people commit this crime. It makes for another case of deception; it is another blatant lie. One of the hallmarks of America’s democracy is full of deception and lies that are accentuated with a decreased amount punishment and