Laillisempia

Laillisempia is a Finnish adjective form meaning more legal or more legitimate. It is the plural form of the comparative laillisempi, which is derived from laillinen (lawful, legitimate). In Finnish, the comparative is formed by removing the -inen from laillinen and adding -isempi, yielding laillisempi. When describing a plural noun, the adjective takes the plural ending laillisempiä, as in laillisempiä vaihtoehtoja (more legitimate options) or laillisempiä keinoja (more lawful means).

Usage and nuance: Laillisempia is used in legal, political, and public discourse to compare actions, proposals, or measures by how closely they conform to law or legitimate norms. It emphasizes legality and due process, and it can carry normative implications in debates about what is considered permissible or legitimate. The term is not a fixed label for a specific policy; rather, it is a grammatical degree modifier applied to relevant nouns.

Examples in context: laillisempi vaihtoehto, laillisempi toimenpide, laillisempi keino. In contrast, laillinen or lailliset function as the base descriptors (legal, legitimate) without the comparative degree.

See also: laillinen, laillisuus, legitiimi (legitimacy).