“Legalize” or “Legalise”

Language

Legalize and legalise are both English terms.

Usage

Legalize is predominantly used in 🇺🇸 American (US) English (en-US) while legalise 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
legalize	99	29	58	97	92	26	100	44	36	70	72	0
legalise	1	71	42	3	8	74	0	56	64	30	28	0

• In the United States, there is a preference for "legalize" over "legalise" (99 to 1).
• In the United Kingdom, there is a 71 to 29 preference for "legalise" over "legalize".
• In India, there is a preference for "legalize" over "legalise" (58 to 42).
• In the Philippines, there is a preference for "legalize" over "legalise" (97 to 3).
• In Canada, there is a preference for "legalize" over "legalise" (92 to 8).
• In Australia, there is a 74 to 26 preference for "legalise" over "legalize".
• In Liberia, there is a preference for "legalize" over "legalise" (100 to 0).
• In Ireland, there is a 56 to 44 preference for "legalise" over "legalize".
• In New Zealand, there is a 64 to 36 preference for "legalise" over "legalize".
• In Jamaica, there is a preference for "legalize" over "legalise" (70 to 30).
• In Trinidad & Tobago, there is a preference for "legalize" over "legalise" (72 to 28).
• In Guyana, there is not enough data to determine a preference between "legalize" and "legalise".

Examples

Below, we provide some examples of when to use legalize or legalise with sample sentences.

Trends

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