“Legalization” or “Legalisation”

Language

Legalization and legalisation are both English terms.

Usage

Legalization is predominantly used in 🇺🇸 American (US) English (en-US) while legalisation is predominantly used in 🇬🇧 British English (used in UK/AU/NZ) (en-GB).

In terms of actual appearance and usage, here's a breakdown by country, with usage level out of 100 (if available) 👇:

Term	US	UK	India	Philippines	Canada	Australia	Liberia	Ireland	New Zealand	Jamaica	Trinidad & Tobago	Guyana
legalization	100	24	65	98	88	25	0	32	36	90	84	100
legalisation	0	76	35	2	12	75	0	68	64	10	16	0

• In the United States, there is a preference for "legalization" over "legalisation" (100 to 0).
• In the United Kingdom, there is a 76 to 24 preference for "legalisation" over "legalization".
• In India, there is a preference for "legalization" over "legalisation" (65 to 35).
• In the Philippines, there is a preference for "legalization" over "legalisation" (98 to 2).
• In Canada, there is a preference for "legalization" over "legalisation" (88 to 12).
• In Australia, there is a 75 to 25 preference for "legalisation" over "legalization".
• In Liberia, there is not enough data to determine a preference between "legalization" and "legalisation".
• In Ireland, there is a 68 to 32 preference for "legalisation" over "legalization".
• In New Zealand, there is a 64 to 36 preference for "legalisation" over "legalization".
• In Jamaica, there is a preference for "legalization" over "legalisation" (90 to 10).
• In Trinidad & Tobago, there is a preference for "legalization" over "legalisation" (84 to 16).
• In Guyana, there is a preference for "legalization" over "legalisation" (100 to 0).

Examples

Below, we provide some examples of when to use legalization or legalisation with sample sentences.

Trends

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